I know my delayed posting of several articles covering events over the weekend has probably screwed up our Russian friends reporting deadlines. Sorry guys.
Chuck Wendig with tweet storm of 25 reasons to keep making things.
"In a valley in eastern Kazakhstan’s remote Tarbagatai Mountains, archaeologists recently excavated a kurgan, or burial mound, holding the remains of two Iron Age teenagers who lived roughly 2,700 years ago." (Grokked from S.A. Chakraborty)
"New York City recently produced a report on the gender price differential in some consumer goods. The so-called Pink Tax. It turns out, women pay more than men for certain goods, like clothes and home health products and personal care products. The study found that women pay as much as 13% more for some categories of products." The Indicator podcast with the best "duh" moment so far. As for those economists who say this is a good thing, please fuck off and die. It's just evidence that the so called "free market" will not work and won't self-regulate. And actually, the only surprising part of this story, for me, is that the reporters (both women) did not know this already. Next up, why are traditionally "women's products" repainted black and marketed to men? (No, you don't have to tell me, I already know.) I want to ask the reporters if they've noticed their clothes typically don't have functional pockets, are made from thinner materials and designed to show more skin. And while they focus on razors, let me just say the razors are basically the same. Buy the guys' razors.
"Hate crimes in America rose 17 percent last year, the third consecutive year that such crimes increased, according to newly released FBI data that showed an even larger increase in anti-Semitic attacks." Make America Great Again. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"Police have arrested a man in Washington, D.C. who allegedly has social media ties to the suspected gunman in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh that killed 11 people… Clark is facing one federal count of unlawful possession of firearms by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance, and one count in the District of Columbia of possessing high-capacity magazines… Authorities report that in the hours after the synagogue shooting, Clark's younger brother, Edward, went to an island in D.C. and shot and killed himself… Relatives told investigators both brothers were part of alt-right movements and that they became interested in guns because they thought there was going to be a civil war, according to court papers." Can't wait for the NRA to defend this guy because of the high-capacity magazine charge.
"First lady Melania Trump, in a remarkable move carried out by her spokeswoman, publicly pushed for the ouster of deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel." Rhut rho. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"The annual convention of the Federalist Society… has long been a glittering and bustling affair… But as the group prepares to gather on Thursday for the start of this year’s convention, more than a dozen prominent conservative lawyers have joined together to sound a note of caution. They are urging their fellow conservatives to speak up about what they say are the Trump administration’s betrayals of bedrock legal norms… The group, called Checks and Balances, was organized by George T. Conway III, a conservative lawyer and the husband of President Trump’s counselor, Kellyanne Conway. In recent opinion articles, Mr. Conway has criticized Mr. Trump’s statements on birthright citizenship and argued that his appointment of Matthew G. Whitaker to serve as acting attorney general violated the Constitution." Dear Federalist Society members, you might want to check your own history and actions. You may just find your complicity in actions and the policies you support contradict the stance you're trying to take. Although this is a subgroup, and there's always trouble makers. But then, as you read the article, you'll find this is just more of the conservative line of being very concerned about these overt actions, but where the rubber meets the road they're all for it, damn the torpedos, full speed ahead. It's just a smoke screen and prepositioning in case they fall out of power so they can criticize liberals for doing exactly what they're doing now (except, you know, conservatives will be the targets then). And they almost control all of the judiciary, so they're trying to enact the fiction that it's not about politics, when for conservatives the judiciary has always been about politics.
"Two Democrats leading the rebellion against Nancy Pelosi were bullish Tuesday evening about their efforts to stop her from winning the speakership, promising to soon reveal that they had enough support to cause a major shake-up at the top of their caucus." Dear reporters, the "people proposing a contrarian position believe they have the support to enact their vision", while titillating, is not news. They're using you to try and gin up that support. This is the gambit Fox News uses all the time. Some fringe actor says something scandalous on the morning show (or the late night shows), Fox News then reports that the "person says this", by noon it's "people are talking" and by the time the night shows are on it's a full blown "lots of people are discussing the possibility that…". It's boring and mendacious. Of course they're "100% positive". That's how they get you to report it even though they know there really isn't a chance in hell.
"A federal judge on Tuesday found that Gwinnett County violated the Civil Rights Act in its handling of absentee ballots during last week's midterm elections, a ruling that will likely delay the overall vote tally in the state's tight gubernatorial race."
"A federal judge has ordered Georgia election officials to review all provisional ballots cast in the midterm elections and prohibited the state from certifying the election before Friday…" Count all the votes.
"Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant defended Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith for joking that if one of her supporters invited her 'to a public hanging,' she’d 'be on the front row,' Monday afternoon by saying that people should be paying attention to African American abortion rates instead of her words." I'm sure he thought that sounded wise in his head. Dear Mississippi, I'm sure someone has a shovel there that could help you dig faster, but seeing how deep that hole is, maybe not. (Grokked from Fred Clark)
Just a general meta note (as I am sometime wont to do), with all this election brouhaha this cycle there are a number of people who are attempting to use the messy, but usual, vote counting process to bring the results of an election into doubt. So first, this is how all elections have worked, no boards of election don't "pre-tabulate" absentee, mail-in, and early voting ballots. In fact, they are saved to the last (which may seem strange for early voting, but just imaging someone leaking early results and you can see why they don't do it). They have always been saved to the last. But usually elections aren't close enough that they ballots could change the outcome (which has always been some people's arguments for voting in person). As our country bifurcates into political camps this is no longer true. Elections are close enough these days to fall within both the margin of error in counting (which is why there is always the possibility of both machine and hand recounting) and they definitely are close enough that these other ballots (including provisional ballots) may tip the scales. And that's what we're seeing here. As the mail delivers absentee ballots (which many states only require the ballot to be postmarked on election day to count, and oversea's military ballots have extra time to be delivered) the voted totals are added in. Also, since many absentee and mail-in ballots are not the same format as in-person ballots, that slows the process down (as machines are reprogrammed, tested and verified before the ballots are counted). Second, instilling doubt as to the fairness and valid of the ballot is exactly a goal of the Russian interference in our elections. Look at how the sides are shaking out as to who says "count all the ballots" and those shouting "RIGGED!" They're doing the Russian's work for them. While their "meddling" in the election appears to have been less than in 2016 (sometimes when you can't see it, it doesn't mean it's not happening, it's just you are either looking in the wrong place or they've gotten better and so are less detectable) they've already hacked the wetware enough that we're doing it to ourselves. Don't carry their water for them.
"Ten months after the (tax cut/reform) took effect, that promised 'supply-side' bump is harder to find than the sugar-high stimulus… Despite a remarkably strong economy, the fiscal health of the United States is deteriorating fast, as revenues have declined sharply. The federal budget deficit… rose to $779 billion in the 2018 fiscal year… That was a 17… since the tax cuts were passed, the 1,000 largest public companies have actually reduced employment… About half of those net losses came from companies in the restaurant and leisure industries, the analysis found." Just waiting for the president and the GOP blame the deficit on the Democrats. That should happen sometime before the end of January. (Grokked from Joy Reid)
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Linkee-poo, face front, true believers!
The alligators are reviewing proofs.
Stan Lee. And so it goes.
"While the coffee ritual may indeed have helped Kimmerer's father to feel more meditative, centered, and ready to start his day, this therapeutic aspect of the ceremony is not its purpose or focus. Rather, it is an act of gratitude, an acknowledgement of the larger world of which we humans are just one part. There is no ego in the ritual, no self-aggrandizing, no 'look at me, look how spiritual I am' -- just the simple, humble act of man offering a humble gift to creation." Terri Windling on homemade ceremonies, their purpose and necessity. Do you say a prayer as you light the candle, do you ask its forgiveness when you blow it out (or snuff it out depending on the candle)? Ceremony and ritual are important, even if they aren't tied to religion. They prepare you and they prepare the space you inhabit. Although for modern society we either don't recognize that we're doing it or we down play it's importance. At worst we toss it off as superstition. And in doing so, we lose something of ourselves instead.
"Le Grand K was forged in 1879 and is held in a locked vault outside Paris — revered and kept under lock and key because its mass, a little over two pounds, is the official definition of the kilogram… But this is will soon change."
"U.S.-based aerospace manufacturer Rocket Lab completed its first successful commercial launch on Saturday, sending seven spacecraft including “six tiny satellites and a drag sail demonstrator” into orbit aboard a relatively small Electron rocket designed primarily for smallsats and cubesats, Spaceflight Now reported."
"Yes, astronomers suggest that it's very likely that a 'dark matter hurricane' will slam into the Earth as it speeds through the Milky Way -- but it shouldn't cause any damage. In fact, in the hunt for the mysterious particle (or particles) that makes up dark matter, the 'hurricane' may provide our best chance at detection." I remember some earnest discussion about Star Trek's "electrical storm in space" thing. Now this.
"Digging through Vietnam War-era archives from the U.S. Navy, the researchers discovered that long-forgotten sea mines which were placed during the conflict actually reacted to the magnetic effects of the solar storm as it hit the planet. Dozens of the mines, designed with magnetic detonators that are set off when a ship passes close by, were triggered by the storm."
"Russian officials have now acknowledged that the October 29 accident involving Russia’s only aircraft carrier and largest floating dry dock has made continuing the refit of the ship impossible. The dry dock, the PD-50, was the only one available capable of accommodating the 55,000 ton Admiral Kuznetsov. As a result, the completion of the refit of the ship is now delayed indefinitely." Well that's gonna crimp their dreams of a blue water navy. (Grokked from John)
"But there are growing indications that natural gas is taking West Virginia down the same path as coal, including a long and continuing battle over how the profits are divvied up among residents and out-of-state companies that are extracting natural resources from the land. And EQT is now suing to gut the 1982 royalty law that was meant to give gas owners a larger piece of the industry pie." It's called "natural resource exploitation" for a reason. And the extraction companies will always try to screw the landowner. The same way your telecom adds extra "fees" to your bill and airlines charge for baggage and fuel recovery fees. This is what "less regulation" is all about. And it's not just West Virginia. The shale gas play should have made many in SE Ohio and Western PA rich, but those areas are still as poor as they were when this whole thing started. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"The White House has defended US President Donald Trump's decision to miss a memorial event on Saturday after he faced a backlash… Mr Trump, who was in France to mark the centenary of World War One's end, cancelled a visit to a US military cemetery because it was raining." Supposedly the helicopter couldn't fly and he didn't want to tie up traffic. Yet somehow the other heads of state could make it to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial.
"The fallout from President Donald Trump's decision to skip a ceremony honoring fallen American World War I soldiers in France on Saturday because of the rain grew amid the images of other world leaders defying inclement weather to memorialize the sacrifices of military heroes as part of the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day."
"President Donald Trump on Monday unloaded on the US's European allies, and appeared to threaten to pull out of NATO, upon returning home from a World War I memorial event in Paris, where French President Emmanuel Macron openly rebuked Trump's political philosophy in a speech on Sunday." Note that Macron was rebuking nationalism.
"He began his visit with a tweet slamming the French president’s call for a European defense force, arrived at events alone and spent much of his trip out of sight in the American ambassadors’ residence in central Paris. On Sunday, he listened as he was lectured on the dangers of nationalist isolation, and then he headed home just as the inaugural Paris Peace Summit was getting underway." I think we can safely call the president's trip to France a failure.
"Shortly after the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated last month, a member of the kill team instructed a superior over the phone to 'tell your boss,' believed to be Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, that the operatives had carried out their mission, according to three people familiar with a recording of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing collected by Turkish intelligence." No collusion, according to the president.
Why is it a problem that the president is pushing "nationalism"? "Baraboo Superintendent Lori Mueller said she became aware of the photo Monday after it was posted on social media. The photo of more than 60 male students dressed in suits, some wearing boutonnieres, shows many with their right arm extended upward while posed on the steps of the Sauk County Courthouse. Mueller did not say what occasion may have brought the students together, but she said the photo appears to have been taken last spring and wasn’t taken on school grounds or at a school-sponsored event."
Culture and heritage. "This gentleman objected to the presence of peaceful protestors on a street corner in Orange, Texas: 'You don't deserve to be in this God-damn country. You don't like it, take your ass home.'" Conservatism is a contagious mental illness. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"'If they're not able to meet the deadline, the secretary of state of Florida may go ahead and certify the elections for our candidates,' Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Michael Barnett told CNN. 'In that case, you can bet your butt there will be lawsuits filed everywhere.'"
"As volunteers rush to complete the legally mandated review, Republican Gov. Rick Scott -- who leads in his race against Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson -- is again upping the stakes by suing to require law enforcement officials to seize ballots and tallying machines in Broward and Palm Beach counties during any break in the action."
"For the second time in 18 years, a pivotal election may be slipping away from Democrats in Florida thanks to an unlikely culprit: the design of a ballot."
"A video of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., who faces a runoff this month against an African-American Democrat, joking about attending 'a public hanging' went viral Sunday as she insisted there was nothing negative about her remark." Dear GOP, you've got a real problem.
"The Georgia Democratic Party and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams' campaign filed a lawsuit in federal court Sunday asking for rejected absentee ballots and provisional ballots to be counted in the Georgia governor's race… The lawsuit challenges the rejection of more than 1,000 absentee ballots for missing information or mismatching information, like birth dates or addresses."
"President Trump demanded on Monday morning that Florida halt its ongoing, legally required statewide recounts while the Republican candidates are still ahead, claiming, without evidence, that 'many ballots are missing or forged' and the ballots are 'massively infected.'" Call the Orkin man, the ballots are infected. The president lives in an evidence free mindset.
The On the Media podcast with "America’s divisions are all the more clear after another frenzied news cycle. This week, we ask a historian and a data scientist whether we humans are capable of governing ourselves. Plus, the post-midterm prognosis on climate change, and how our media have often complicated our country’s founding spirit of self-reflection."
"Congress is returning to Washington this week for an end-of-the-year session that’s expected to be filled with high-stakes legislative fights and plenty of drama… Lawmakers will be forced to juggle several crucial deadlines on must-pass pieces of legislation and unravel thorny policy fights, while also navigating political battles over leadership and a potential Cabinet shakeup." Gee, if only they had done their actual work this wouldn't be a problem. And remember when I talked about the GOP plan to stack the courts? "Republicans have confirmed Trump’s judicial picks, particularly nominees for the influential circuit courts, at a breakneck pace during the first two years of his administration, even setting a record for the number of appeals judges confirmed."
The problem with, "We'd all be more secure if everyone had a gun" philosophy. "Witnesses said a Midlothian police officer responding to a shooting inside a south suburban bar shot at the wrong person early Sunday morning." They killed the security guard who had subdued the shooter. This is what institutional racism looks like, and what happens when there are too many guns. Police arrive on the scene, see a black man with a gun holding down another person and assume the black man is the criminal. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"Families of people with dementia will often take away the car keys to keep their family member safe. They might remove knobs from stove burners or lock up medicine… But what's less talked about is the risk of guns in the home for those with dementia." Taking away driving privileges is removal of independence, which is difficult enough. Many people's identities have been wrapped around their gun ownership (thanks to the propaganda of the NRA and the right). The troubling thing about dementia and Alzheimer's is that memory isn't always destroyed, just the path to retrieving it. There are many paths to that memory (as we currently understand how the brain works… see my normal disclaimer on that) and new paths can be forged. Also, the brain is redundant. Habit can mask disfunction for a long time. SO while I might say that one solution would be to keep the guns, but remove all ammo, anyone who has dealt with an older relative's smoking habit knows the problems with that.
"Rep. Steve King, the Iowa Republican known for hard-line stances on immigration and racist remarks, challenged a conservative magazine to release audio to prove that he had compared immigrants to 'dirt.'… So The Weekly Standard did." Also note the Weekly Standard is a conservative media outlet. Yes, Rep. Steve King is Nazi scum.
"The president just meant the acting attorney general isn’t 'a friend' he’s known for 'his entire life,' (Kelly Ann) Conway said." They haven't played devil's triangle, yet. Too soon?
David Roth on the president. "If there is a purpose here, it is the theater of it—the theater of Trump’s strange fey boorishness and the towering and obvious lies he tells, which exist not to convince but more to signal his ongoing unwillingness to be constrained by fact." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Trump administration had stopped defending key parts of the Affordable Care Act in court on the grounds that the law became unconstitutional when Congress repealed the tax penalty for individuals' failure to buy health insurance… Maryland filed suit against Sessions challenging that position… But now that Sessions is no longer attorney general, Maryland is buttressing its argument. The state contends that Whitaker was unlawfully named acting attorney general, and so he has no authority to respond to their lawsuit." So it begins. Wait until the lawsuit is, "I can't be convicted because the Attorney General at the time was illegally appointed."
"North Korea is moving ahead with its ballistic missile program at 16 hidden bases that have been identified in new commercial satellite images, a network long known to American intelligence agencies but left undiscussed as President Trump claims to have neutralized the North’s nuclear threat." I can't even fake being shocked by this. The president has no idea how to negotiate when people don't really need his money. (Grokked from Joy Reid)
Stan Lee. And so it goes.
"While the coffee ritual may indeed have helped Kimmerer's father to feel more meditative, centered, and ready to start his day, this therapeutic aspect of the ceremony is not its purpose or focus. Rather, it is an act of gratitude, an acknowledgement of the larger world of which we humans are just one part. There is no ego in the ritual, no self-aggrandizing, no 'look at me, look how spiritual I am' -- just the simple, humble act of man offering a humble gift to creation." Terri Windling on homemade ceremonies, their purpose and necessity. Do you say a prayer as you light the candle, do you ask its forgiveness when you blow it out (or snuff it out depending on the candle)? Ceremony and ritual are important, even if they aren't tied to religion. They prepare you and they prepare the space you inhabit. Although for modern society we either don't recognize that we're doing it or we down play it's importance. At worst we toss it off as superstition. And in doing so, we lose something of ourselves instead.
"Le Grand K was forged in 1879 and is held in a locked vault outside Paris — revered and kept under lock and key because its mass, a little over two pounds, is the official definition of the kilogram… But this is will soon change."
"U.S.-based aerospace manufacturer Rocket Lab completed its first successful commercial launch on Saturday, sending seven spacecraft including “six tiny satellites and a drag sail demonstrator” into orbit aboard a relatively small Electron rocket designed primarily for smallsats and cubesats, Spaceflight Now reported."
"Yes, astronomers suggest that it's very likely that a 'dark matter hurricane' will slam into the Earth as it speeds through the Milky Way -- but it shouldn't cause any damage. In fact, in the hunt for the mysterious particle (or particles) that makes up dark matter, the 'hurricane' may provide our best chance at detection." I remember some earnest discussion about Star Trek's "electrical storm in space" thing. Now this.
"Digging through Vietnam War-era archives from the U.S. Navy, the researchers discovered that long-forgotten sea mines which were placed during the conflict actually reacted to the magnetic effects of the solar storm as it hit the planet. Dozens of the mines, designed with magnetic detonators that are set off when a ship passes close by, were triggered by the storm."
"Russian officials have now acknowledged that the October 29 accident involving Russia’s only aircraft carrier and largest floating dry dock has made continuing the refit of the ship impossible. The dry dock, the PD-50, was the only one available capable of accommodating the 55,000 ton Admiral Kuznetsov. As a result, the completion of the refit of the ship is now delayed indefinitely." Well that's gonna crimp their dreams of a blue water navy. (Grokked from John)
"But there are growing indications that natural gas is taking West Virginia down the same path as coal, including a long and continuing battle over how the profits are divvied up among residents and out-of-state companies that are extracting natural resources from the land. And EQT is now suing to gut the 1982 royalty law that was meant to give gas owners a larger piece of the industry pie." It's called "natural resource exploitation" for a reason. And the extraction companies will always try to screw the landowner. The same way your telecom adds extra "fees" to your bill and airlines charge for baggage and fuel recovery fees. This is what "less regulation" is all about. And it's not just West Virginia. The shale gas play should have made many in SE Ohio and Western PA rich, but those areas are still as poor as they were when this whole thing started. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"The White House has defended US President Donald Trump's decision to miss a memorial event on Saturday after he faced a backlash… Mr Trump, who was in France to mark the centenary of World War One's end, cancelled a visit to a US military cemetery because it was raining." Supposedly the helicopter couldn't fly and he didn't want to tie up traffic. Yet somehow the other heads of state could make it to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial.
"The fallout from President Donald Trump's decision to skip a ceremony honoring fallen American World War I soldiers in France on Saturday because of the rain grew amid the images of other world leaders defying inclement weather to memorialize the sacrifices of military heroes as part of the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day."
"President Donald Trump on Monday unloaded on the US's European allies, and appeared to threaten to pull out of NATO, upon returning home from a World War I memorial event in Paris, where French President Emmanuel Macron openly rebuked Trump's political philosophy in a speech on Sunday." Note that Macron was rebuking nationalism.
"He began his visit with a tweet slamming the French president’s call for a European defense force, arrived at events alone and spent much of his trip out of sight in the American ambassadors’ residence in central Paris. On Sunday, he listened as he was lectured on the dangers of nationalist isolation, and then he headed home just as the inaugural Paris Peace Summit was getting underway." I think we can safely call the president's trip to France a failure.
"Shortly after the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated last month, a member of the kill team instructed a superior over the phone to 'tell your boss,' believed to be Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, that the operatives had carried out their mission, according to three people familiar with a recording of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing collected by Turkish intelligence." No collusion, according to the president.
Why is it a problem that the president is pushing "nationalism"? "Baraboo Superintendent Lori Mueller said she became aware of the photo Monday after it was posted on social media. The photo of more than 60 male students dressed in suits, some wearing boutonnieres, shows many with their right arm extended upward while posed on the steps of the Sauk County Courthouse. Mueller did not say what occasion may have brought the students together, but she said the photo appears to have been taken last spring and wasn’t taken on school grounds or at a school-sponsored event."
Culture and heritage. "This gentleman objected to the presence of peaceful protestors on a street corner in Orange, Texas: 'You don't deserve to be in this God-damn country. You don't like it, take your ass home.'" Conservatism is a contagious mental illness. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"'If they're not able to meet the deadline, the secretary of state of Florida may go ahead and certify the elections for our candidates,' Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Michael Barnett told CNN. 'In that case, you can bet your butt there will be lawsuits filed everywhere.'"
"As volunteers rush to complete the legally mandated review, Republican Gov. Rick Scott -- who leads in his race against Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson -- is again upping the stakes by suing to require law enforcement officials to seize ballots and tallying machines in Broward and Palm Beach counties during any break in the action."
"For the second time in 18 years, a pivotal election may be slipping away from Democrats in Florida thanks to an unlikely culprit: the design of a ballot."
"A video of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., who faces a runoff this month against an African-American Democrat, joking about attending 'a public hanging' went viral Sunday as she insisted there was nothing negative about her remark." Dear GOP, you've got a real problem.
"The Georgia Democratic Party and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams' campaign filed a lawsuit in federal court Sunday asking for rejected absentee ballots and provisional ballots to be counted in the Georgia governor's race… The lawsuit challenges the rejection of more than 1,000 absentee ballots for missing information or mismatching information, like birth dates or addresses."
"President Trump demanded on Monday morning that Florida halt its ongoing, legally required statewide recounts while the Republican candidates are still ahead, claiming, without evidence, that 'many ballots are missing or forged' and the ballots are 'massively infected.'" Call the Orkin man, the ballots are infected. The president lives in an evidence free mindset.
The On the Media podcast with "America’s divisions are all the more clear after another frenzied news cycle. This week, we ask a historian and a data scientist whether we humans are capable of governing ourselves. Plus, the post-midterm prognosis on climate change, and how our media have often complicated our country’s founding spirit of self-reflection."
"Congress is returning to Washington this week for an end-of-the-year session that’s expected to be filled with high-stakes legislative fights and plenty of drama… Lawmakers will be forced to juggle several crucial deadlines on must-pass pieces of legislation and unravel thorny policy fights, while also navigating political battles over leadership and a potential Cabinet shakeup." Gee, if only they had done their actual work this wouldn't be a problem. And remember when I talked about the GOP plan to stack the courts? "Republicans have confirmed Trump’s judicial picks, particularly nominees for the influential circuit courts, at a breakneck pace during the first two years of his administration, even setting a record for the number of appeals judges confirmed."
The problem with, "We'd all be more secure if everyone had a gun" philosophy. "Witnesses said a Midlothian police officer responding to a shooting inside a south suburban bar shot at the wrong person early Sunday morning." They killed the security guard who had subdued the shooter. This is what institutional racism looks like, and what happens when there are too many guns. Police arrive on the scene, see a black man with a gun holding down another person and assume the black man is the criminal. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"Families of people with dementia will often take away the car keys to keep their family member safe. They might remove knobs from stove burners or lock up medicine… But what's less talked about is the risk of guns in the home for those with dementia." Taking away driving privileges is removal of independence, which is difficult enough. Many people's identities have been wrapped around their gun ownership (thanks to the propaganda of the NRA and the right). The troubling thing about dementia and Alzheimer's is that memory isn't always destroyed, just the path to retrieving it. There are many paths to that memory (as we currently understand how the brain works… see my normal disclaimer on that) and new paths can be forged. Also, the brain is redundant. Habit can mask disfunction for a long time. SO while I might say that one solution would be to keep the guns, but remove all ammo, anyone who has dealt with an older relative's smoking habit knows the problems with that.
"Rep. Steve King, the Iowa Republican known for hard-line stances on immigration and racist remarks, challenged a conservative magazine to release audio to prove that he had compared immigrants to 'dirt.'… So The Weekly Standard did." Also note the Weekly Standard is a conservative media outlet. Yes, Rep. Steve King is Nazi scum.
"The president just meant the acting attorney general isn’t 'a friend' he’s known for 'his entire life,' (Kelly Ann) Conway said." They haven't played devil's triangle, yet. Too soon?
David Roth on the president. "If there is a purpose here, it is the theater of it—the theater of Trump’s strange fey boorishness and the towering and obvious lies he tells, which exist not to convince but more to signal his ongoing unwillingness to be constrained by fact." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Trump administration had stopped defending key parts of the Affordable Care Act in court on the grounds that the law became unconstitutional when Congress repealed the tax penalty for individuals' failure to buy health insurance… Maryland filed suit against Sessions challenging that position… But now that Sessions is no longer attorney general, Maryland is buttressing its argument. The state contends that Whitaker was unlawfully named acting attorney general, and so he has no authority to respond to their lawsuit." So it begins. Wait until the lawsuit is, "I can't be convicted because the Attorney General at the time was illegally appointed."
"North Korea is moving ahead with its ballistic missile program at 16 hidden bases that have been identified in new commercial satellite images, a network long known to American intelligence agencies but left undiscussed as President Trump claims to have neutralized the North’s nuclear threat." I can't even fake being shocked by this. The president has no idea how to negotiate when people don't really need his money. (Grokked from Joy Reid)
Monday, November 12, 2018
Linkee-poo it's a new week?
Sorry, still full of alligators.
Delilah Dawson with some truths about writing.
"The large, multiyear research efforts tested different formulations and quantities of drugs made with Omega-3 fatty acids on two groups of people: one that suffered from cardiovascular disease or diabetes and another that represented the general population… Both studies found that people who took the drugs every day enjoyed protection against some heart and circulatory problems compared with those given a placebo." Well, kinda sorta.
"A mocking tweet from the National Rifle Association has stirred many physicians to post on social media about their tragically frequent experiences treating patients in the aftermath of gun violence." That didn't work out well… for the NRA. Seriously, NRA, I'm not a doctor, but I work in an ER and we see what happens at the wrong end of the gun. Few people outside of the medical field read medical research. You really asked for this shellacking.
"The Food and Drug Administration is planning to limit the sale of sweet electronic cigarette flavors in an attempt to curtail what its commissioner has called an 'epidemic' of teen vaping, according to an agency official."
"They found that the insecticide — from a controversial group called neonicotinoids — made the bees more sluggish and antisocial, spending more time on the periphery of the nest. It also made them less-attentive parents, according to research published Thursday in the journal Science." Smoking isn't good for anybody.
"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sends a letter to President Donald Trump questioning whether the appointment of acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was constitutional."
"The incident, video of which was taken offline shortly after being posted, has prompted an aisle-crossing outcry – fueled in part by Carlson’s own significant embellishments of what occurred while he wasn’t home. I was there for the entirety of the 10-minute demonstration, and can report in detail what actually happened."
"President Trump on Friday suggested he could pull press credentials from other reporters who don't show him 'respect'… The comments come two days after the president suspended the press pass of CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta after a contentious exchange during a news conference." Tin-pot dictator stuff.
"Jo Johnson, the younger brother of Boris, resigned from British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government on Friday, calling in a withering critique for another referendum to avoid the vassalage or chaos that he said her Brexit plans would unleash." Rats leaving after they scuttle the ship (and take all the money).
"Whitaker, a former US attorney in Iowa, was paid to work as an advisory board member for World Patent Marketing (WPM), a Florida-based company accused by the US government of tricking aspiring inventors out of millions of dollars. Earlier this year, it was ordered to pay authorities $26m." Only the best people. (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)
"When things were particularly bad between President Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general's chief of staff, Matt Whitaker, would attend White House meetings in his place… But Sessions did not know that Whitaker at the same time was angling for a promotion." A timeline of the ouster. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/tensions-rising-mueller-manafort-level-cooperation-sources/story?id=59086047&id=59086047&__twitter_impression=true Manafort is betting on a pardon. I guess he's forgetting there are also state charges pending and a presidential pardon isn't available there. (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)
Delilah Dawson with some truths about writing.
"The large, multiyear research efforts tested different formulations and quantities of drugs made with Omega-3 fatty acids on two groups of people: one that suffered from cardiovascular disease or diabetes and another that represented the general population… Both studies found that people who took the drugs every day enjoyed protection against some heart and circulatory problems compared with those given a placebo." Well, kinda sorta.
"A mocking tweet from the National Rifle Association has stirred many physicians to post on social media about their tragically frequent experiences treating patients in the aftermath of gun violence." That didn't work out well… for the NRA. Seriously, NRA, I'm not a doctor, but I work in an ER and we see what happens at the wrong end of the gun. Few people outside of the medical field read medical research. You really asked for this shellacking.
"The Food and Drug Administration is planning to limit the sale of sweet electronic cigarette flavors in an attempt to curtail what its commissioner has called an 'epidemic' of teen vaping, according to an agency official."
"They found that the insecticide — from a controversial group called neonicotinoids — made the bees more sluggish and antisocial, spending more time on the periphery of the nest. It also made them less-attentive parents, according to research published Thursday in the journal Science." Smoking isn't good for anybody.
"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sends a letter to President Donald Trump questioning whether the appointment of acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was constitutional."
"The incident, video of which was taken offline shortly after being posted, has prompted an aisle-crossing outcry – fueled in part by Carlson’s own significant embellishments of what occurred while he wasn’t home. I was there for the entirety of the 10-minute demonstration, and can report in detail what actually happened."
"President Trump on Friday suggested he could pull press credentials from other reporters who don't show him 'respect'… The comments come two days after the president suspended the press pass of CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta after a contentious exchange during a news conference." Tin-pot dictator stuff.
"Jo Johnson, the younger brother of Boris, resigned from British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government on Friday, calling in a withering critique for another referendum to avoid the vassalage or chaos that he said her Brexit plans would unleash." Rats leaving after they scuttle the ship (and take all the money).
"Whitaker, a former US attorney in Iowa, was paid to work as an advisory board member for World Patent Marketing (WPM), a Florida-based company accused by the US government of tricking aspiring inventors out of millions of dollars. Earlier this year, it was ordered to pay authorities $26m." Only the best people. (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)
"When things were particularly bad between President Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general's chief of staff, Matt Whitaker, would attend White House meetings in his place… But Sessions did not know that Whitaker at the same time was angling for a promotion." A timeline of the ouster. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/tensions-rising-mueller-manafort-level-cooperation-sources/story?id=59086047&id=59086047&__twitter_impression=true Manafort is betting on a pardon. I guess he's forgetting there are also state charges pending and a presidential pardon isn't available there. (Grokked from Katheryn Cramer)
Friday, November 9, 2018
Linkee-poo wants to be your fantasy, maybe you could be mine
Sorry, not much I can do today with all these alligators. So no stories about how Florida and Georgia elections and a whole bunch others are getting tighter and/or too close to call. Gee, Rich Scott, if only you had actually fixed the damn system when you were governor for 8 years, this might not be happening. And it is frankly hilarious to see the people who screamed about "voter fraud interfering with the votes of real citizens" no screaming about how we shouldn't count all votes because mumble mumble something FREEDOM.
"Because in the paper, a team of astronomers show that they have observed a blob of dust sitting just outside the point of no return of a supermassive black hole, where the gravity is so intense that this material is moving at thirty percent the speed of light. And this wasn’t inferred, deduced, or shown indirectly. No: They measured this motion by literally seeing the blobs move in their observations." (Grokked from Tania)
"For the first time, astronomers have observed the final stages of galactic mergers, peering through thick walls of gas and dust to see pairs of supermassive black holes drawing closer together and the black holes' rapid growth." When galaxies collide.
"As researchers the world over search for alternative energy sources, there has been a sharp rise in interest in cyanobacteria… These organisms, widely found in the oceans and on land, are being investigated for their abilities to turn sunlight into electrical current."
"When the South Atlantic Ocean was young, sea monsters ruled it." Mosasaurs. Why did it have to be mosasaurs?
Companies would never throttle internet access to services because they couldn't compete. Remember that line? "Sprint Corp. has been slowing traffic to Microsoft Corp.’s internet-based video chat service Skype, according to new findings from an ongoing study by Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts." That didn't take long. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"UBS Group, Switzerland's largest bank, said it expects to be sued by the U.S. Department of Justice as early as Thursday on civil charges related to the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the 2008-2009 financial crisis, according to a company statement."
"(USS Cole terrorist attack victims and family's) path for this and similar suits has been long and difficult, and now, to the consternation of the victims and veterans groups, the Trump administration is siding with Sudan, long designated a state sponsor of terrorism."
For all those who lamented about how Kavanaugh's life was ruined by charges of sexual harassment and rape and those who peddled the "mothers should be worried this might happen to their boys". "Christine Blasey Ford is still being harassed after leveling sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, her lawyers say… She's had to move four times, she wrote last month. She has had to pay for a private security detail. She hasn't been able to return to her job as a professor at Palo Alto University. A spokeswoman for the school did not respond to a question about whether there was a timeline for Ford to return." So why didn't she come out earlier? (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Long lines at polling locations in Georgia reveal a voting system that is not performing properly and may disenfranchise voters who cannot wait for hours to cast a ballot. Initial reporting on Election Day shows that precincts with particularly long lines are in African American neighborhoods." Like they were in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. It's almost like the Secretaries of States don't really want to solve the problem.
"Because in the paper, a team of astronomers show that they have observed a blob of dust sitting just outside the point of no return of a supermassive black hole, where the gravity is so intense that this material is moving at thirty percent the speed of light. And this wasn’t inferred, deduced, or shown indirectly. No: They measured this motion by literally seeing the blobs move in their observations." (Grokked from Tania)
"For the first time, astronomers have observed the final stages of galactic mergers, peering through thick walls of gas and dust to see pairs of supermassive black holes drawing closer together and the black holes' rapid growth." When galaxies collide.
"As researchers the world over search for alternative energy sources, there has been a sharp rise in interest in cyanobacteria… These organisms, widely found in the oceans and on land, are being investigated for their abilities to turn sunlight into electrical current."
"When the South Atlantic Ocean was young, sea monsters ruled it." Mosasaurs. Why did it have to be mosasaurs?
Companies would never throttle internet access to services because they couldn't compete. Remember that line? "Sprint Corp. has been slowing traffic to Microsoft Corp.’s internet-based video chat service Skype, according to new findings from an ongoing study by Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts." That didn't take long. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"UBS Group, Switzerland's largest bank, said it expects to be sued by the U.S. Department of Justice as early as Thursday on civil charges related to the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the 2008-2009 financial crisis, according to a company statement."
"(USS Cole terrorist attack victims and family's) path for this and similar suits has been long and difficult, and now, to the consternation of the victims and veterans groups, the Trump administration is siding with Sudan, long designated a state sponsor of terrorism."
For all those who lamented about how Kavanaugh's life was ruined by charges of sexual harassment and rape and those who peddled the "mothers should be worried this might happen to their boys". "Christine Blasey Ford is still being harassed after leveling sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, her lawyers say… She's had to move four times, she wrote last month. She has had to pay for a private security detail. She hasn't been able to return to her job as a professor at Palo Alto University. A spokeswoman for the school did not respond to a question about whether there was a timeline for Ford to return." So why didn't she come out earlier? (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Long lines at polling locations in Georgia reveal a voting system that is not performing properly and may disenfranchise voters who cannot wait for hours to cast a ballot. Initial reporting on Election Day shows that precincts with particularly long lines are in African American neighborhoods." Like they were in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. It's almost like the Secretaries of States don't really want to solve the problem.
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Linkee-poo down the rabbit hole we go
It's alligators as far as the eye can see.
"The US inquiry into alleged Russian meddling during the 2016 election could be under threat after President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, top opposition Democrats say." So the question is, will Whitaker take the hit and end the Mueller investigation before Trump sends a new appointment to the Senate, or will he just hold course and prepare the field for Trump's appointee to do the firing. Another question is how far along is Mueller's investigation and what the fall out will be if leaks start appearing in a more earnest way? In the press conference yesterday the president threatened the House to keep them at bay from investigating him (charges also echoed by the Senate Majority Leader). The results of the investigation (the parts we don't know right now, as compared to the charges already filed) will eventually become public. The only question there is it within a week, next year, or 5-10 years from now. So right now the difference between a Constitutional Crisis and the current state is so minor as to not be relevant.
"A Texas poll worker was charged with assault today after yelling racist remarks at a black voter who she didn't think should be voting, then shoulder-checking her." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Voter turnout on Tuesday was massive: More than 47 percent of the voting-eligible population cast a ballot in the midterm elections on Tuesday. That's according to early estimates from the United States Election Project… That's the highest turnout for a midterm since 1966, when 49 percent of the population showed up to vote."
"Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker lost a very narrow race for reelection to Democratic challenger Tony Evers on Tuesday. But it wasn't close enough to qualify for a recount — thanks to a law he signed himself last year." I'm not sure that's a karma bitch slap, more like a karma round-house kick to the head.
"Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams is refusing to accept Republican rival Brian Kemp's declaration of victory in the Georgia gubernatorial race and is considering legal action in the high-profile contest." If he hadn't been such a dick before in his attempts to suppress minority voting, it probably wouldn't be such a problem. But Kemps has consistently tried to steal this election. He should have recused himself from anything involving governor's race and let his deputies handle it.
"Following the mixed-results of this week’s midterm elections, President Trump held a news conference that quickly descended into a full-contact grudge match against Democrats, failed Republicans candidates and the press." This is the news conference with the confrontation with Jim Acosta.
The White House used edited (speed) video of Jim Acosta and the intern trying to take away his microphone. (Grokked from Daniel J Hogan).
"Sarah Sanders is slammed for retweeting conspiracy theorist's 'DOCTORED' video of Jim Acosta's exchange with White House intern that shows CNN reporter 'KARATE CHOPPING' her arm"
Us and Them. On the Media podcast… "Last week on our show, Bob spoke with Lilliana Mason, a University of Maryland political psychologist and author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity, about the reasons behind the tribalism and enmity that characterize our politics. The conversation covered a lot of ground, and much of it — including the political decisions that have shaped the two major parties over the past 50 years, as well as the distinct ways that Republicans and Democrats deploy partisan rage — didn’t make it into our tightly packed show. But, it’s too interesting and important to leave on the cutting room floor, so we’re sharing it as this week’s midterm edition podcast extra." With, without, and who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?
"The US inquiry into alleged Russian meddling during the 2016 election could be under threat after President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, top opposition Democrats say." So the question is, will Whitaker take the hit and end the Mueller investigation before Trump sends a new appointment to the Senate, or will he just hold course and prepare the field for Trump's appointee to do the firing. Another question is how far along is Mueller's investigation and what the fall out will be if leaks start appearing in a more earnest way? In the press conference yesterday the president threatened the House to keep them at bay from investigating him (charges also echoed by the Senate Majority Leader). The results of the investigation (the parts we don't know right now, as compared to the charges already filed) will eventually become public. The only question there is it within a week, next year, or 5-10 years from now. So right now the difference between a Constitutional Crisis and the current state is so minor as to not be relevant.
"A Texas poll worker was charged with assault today after yelling racist remarks at a black voter who she didn't think should be voting, then shoulder-checking her." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Voter turnout on Tuesday was massive: More than 47 percent of the voting-eligible population cast a ballot in the midterm elections on Tuesday. That's according to early estimates from the United States Election Project… That's the highest turnout for a midterm since 1966, when 49 percent of the population showed up to vote."
"Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker lost a very narrow race for reelection to Democratic challenger Tony Evers on Tuesday. But it wasn't close enough to qualify for a recount — thanks to a law he signed himself last year." I'm not sure that's a karma bitch slap, more like a karma round-house kick to the head.
"Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams is refusing to accept Republican rival Brian Kemp's declaration of victory in the Georgia gubernatorial race and is considering legal action in the high-profile contest." If he hadn't been such a dick before in his attempts to suppress minority voting, it probably wouldn't be such a problem. But Kemps has consistently tried to steal this election. He should have recused himself from anything involving governor's race and let his deputies handle it.
"Following the mixed-results of this week’s midterm elections, President Trump held a news conference that quickly descended into a full-contact grudge match against Democrats, failed Republicans candidates and the press." This is the news conference with the confrontation with Jim Acosta.
The White House used edited (speed) video of Jim Acosta and the intern trying to take away his microphone. (Grokked from Daniel J Hogan).
"Sarah Sanders is slammed for retweeting conspiracy theorist's 'DOCTORED' video of Jim Acosta's exchange with White House intern that shows CNN reporter 'KARATE CHOPPING' her arm"
Us and Them. On the Media podcast… "Last week on our show, Bob spoke with Lilliana Mason, a University of Maryland political psychologist and author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity, about the reasons behind the tribalism and enmity that characterize our politics. The conversation covered a lot of ground, and much of it — including the political decisions that have shaped the two major parties over the past 50 years, as well as the distinct ways that Republicans and Democrats deploy partisan rage — didn’t make it into our tightly packed show. But, it’s too interesting and important to leave on the cutting room floor, so we’re sharing it as this week’s midterm edition podcast extra." With, without, and who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Linkee-poo oh what a night
Alligator overload.
"There have been 80 confirmed cases of the polio-like illness known as AFM in 25 states this year as of Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday… In addition, there are 219 cases under investigation."
"Every year, nearly 34,000 cases of cancer in the US can be attributed to HPV, the human papillomavirus . The CDC estimates that vaccination could prevent around 93 percent of those cancers. Yet HPV vaccination rates are abysmal: only half of the teenagers in the US were fully vaccinated in 2017." How the US's neuroticism about sex kills. But the good news is more kids are using protection.
"A 94-year-old former enlisted SS man went on trial Tuesday in Germany, charged with being an accessory to murder for crimes committed during the years he served as a guard at the Nazis' Stutthof concentration camp."
"Saudi Arabia's crown prince has launched a project to build the first nuclear research reactor in the kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported."
"Facebook announced late Monday the suspension of 115 accounts it believed to be engaged in 'coordinated inauthentic behavior' as top law enforcement officials warned that Russia may still try to interfere in U.S. elections." You know, shutting these accounts down is good. Waiting to shut them down until election is heinous fuckery.
"Fox News lightly criticized host Sean Hannity on Tuesday for campaigning for President Donald Trump after promising that the host would not do so." Yes, Sean, it was planned. Let's just drop the pretense, Fox News is the GOP propaganda wing. Straight up. It's only if you're still trying to keep the facade of "journalism" going that this would be a problem. Fox News has even snookered the conservative faithful, because they still think it's "news" and not, as Jon Stewart once called it, Bullshit Mountain. And Hitler also brought Goebbels on stage with him. If you work at Fox News and this is a problem for you, let me give you the advice Fox News has been giving the rest of us. Quit.
Dear Democrats, looking for something more than "infrastructure" to work hard on? "In the ballot measures that passed Tuesday, voters in at least three states took the power to determine political boundaries away from state legislatures, while a similar proposition in Utah was too close to call. Voter registration deadlines could become a thing of the past in three states that are making it easier to take part in elections." Here's a winning strategy. Conservatives will flog you with claims of "illegal voting" and other bullshit. You need to have your facts ready and fight back and label conservatives as those who want to disenfranchise voters and suppress minority, lower income, older voters, and women's votes.
"There have been 80 confirmed cases of the polio-like illness known as AFM in 25 states this year as of Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday… In addition, there are 219 cases under investigation."
"Every year, nearly 34,000 cases of cancer in the US can be attributed to HPV, the human papillomavirus . The CDC estimates that vaccination could prevent around 93 percent of those cancers. Yet HPV vaccination rates are abysmal: only half of the teenagers in the US were fully vaccinated in 2017." How the US's neuroticism about sex kills. But the good news is more kids are using protection.
"A 94-year-old former enlisted SS man went on trial Tuesday in Germany, charged with being an accessory to murder for crimes committed during the years he served as a guard at the Nazis' Stutthof concentration camp."
"Saudi Arabia's crown prince has launched a project to build the first nuclear research reactor in the kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported."
"Facebook announced late Monday the suspension of 115 accounts it believed to be engaged in 'coordinated inauthentic behavior' as top law enforcement officials warned that Russia may still try to interfere in U.S. elections." You know, shutting these accounts down is good. Waiting to shut them down until election is heinous fuckery.
"Fox News lightly criticized host Sean Hannity on Tuesday for campaigning for President Donald Trump after promising that the host would not do so." Yes, Sean, it was planned. Let's just drop the pretense, Fox News is the GOP propaganda wing. Straight up. It's only if you're still trying to keep the facade of "journalism" going that this would be a problem. Fox News has even snookered the conservative faithful, because they still think it's "news" and not, as Jon Stewart once called it, Bullshit Mountain. And Hitler also brought Goebbels on stage with him. If you work at Fox News and this is a problem for you, let me give you the advice Fox News has been giving the rest of us. Quit.
Dear Democrats, looking for something more than "infrastructure" to work hard on? "In the ballot measures that passed Tuesday, voters in at least three states took the power to determine political boundaries away from state legislatures, while a similar proposition in Utah was too close to call. Voter registration deadlines could become a thing of the past in three states that are making it easier to take part in elections." Here's a winning strategy. Conservatives will flog you with claims of "illegal voting" and other bullshit. You need to have your facts ready and fight back and label conservatives as those who want to disenfranchise voters and suppress minority, lower income, older voters, and women's votes.
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Linkee-poo election day
Huhn. "Now a pair of Harvard researchers are raising the possibility that Oumuamua is an alien spacecraft." And the paper they published. "However, recent observational and theoretical studies imply that 'Oumuamua is not an active comet. We explore the possibility that the excess acceleration results from Solar radiation pressure… For a thin sheet this requires a width of ≈ 0.3 − 0.9 mm. We find that although extremely thin, such an object would survive an interstellar travel over Galactic distances of ∼ 5 kpc, withstanding collisions with gas and dust-grains as well as stresses from rotation and tidal forces. We discuss the possible origins of such an object including the possibility that it might be a lightsail of artificial origin. Our general results apply to any light probes designed for interstellar travel." Rama? Of course Occam's Razor and all.
"The spacesuit-wearing mannequin and its red Tesla Roadster have now sped beyond the orbit of Mars after launching into space in February aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the aerospace manufacturer said Nov. 2 in a tweet."
And now we go to Wisconsin and their economic miracle of Foxconn. "And while many - including this site - accused the project of being a giant taxpayer-funded boondoggle, calculating that every job created would cost some $230,000 in incentives, a little over a year later and even more disturbing "glitch" in the plan has emerged: according to the WSJ, instead of hiring local talent, Foxconn is considering bringing in personnel from China 'to help staff the large facility under construction in southern Wisconsin as it struggles to find engineers and other workers in one of the tightest labor markets in the U.S.'" Con, it's right there in the name. (Grokked in a roundabout way from Xeni Jardin)
And then, "Mason reiterated Foxconn’s promise that it will eventually create thirteen thousand 'permanent' jobs in Wisconsin. But the company recently changed the type of factory it plans to build, downsizing to a highly automated plant that will only require three thousand employees, ninety per cent of them 'knowledge workers,' such as engineers, programmers, and designers. Almost all of the assembly work will be done by robots." That's a fairly long article that discusses a lot of other "changes" Foxconn demanded, the government running roughshod over their citizens, and how a large corporation could bend a weak conservative government to their will all for a good photo op. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"President Donald Trump's move to deploy troops to the U.S.-Mexico border is so far shaping up to have a cost of $220 million, according to two U.S. defense officials who were not authorized to speak publicly." Party of fiscal responsibility my Aunt Fanny. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Two Elkhart, Indiana, police officers who punched a handcuffed man in the face more than 10 times will face criminal charges — 11 months after the fact, and only after The South Bend Tribune requested video of the incident as part of an ongoing investigation with ProPublica." (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"(The shooter) was described as a brooding military veteran and former teacher, who appeared to have made videos detailing his hatred of everything from the Affordable Care Act to girls who’d allegedly mistreated him in middle school. The videos were posted four years ago, and were removed from YouTube after the shooting." A student attacked the shooter with a broom, got the gun away from him, but then lost the gun back to the shooter which was when the shooter took his own life.
"(SCOTUS) on Monday rejected appeals from the telecommunications industry seeking to throw out a lower court ruling in favor of the “net neutrality” rules. The Federal Communications Commission under President Donald Trump has rolled back the rules, but the industry also wanted to wipe the court ruling off the books."
"As the first active-duty military troops sent to the U.S. border with Mexico installed coils of razor wire on a bridge and a riverbank Friday, a sense of unease spread across Texas’ Rio Grande Valley… President Donald Trump’s portrayal of a border under siege by drug smugglers and other criminals is at odds with what residents in towns along the 1,954-mile (3,126-kilometer) divide with Mexico see in their daily routines, with U.S. border towns consistently ranking among the safest in the country." Wag the dog, baby. And once again, seeking asylum is a legal activity and a legal way of entering a country.
"A change this year in federal contracts has left some farmers market operators and advocates nervous. A company that has long provided the technology to 1,700 farmers markets across the country that accept benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, says it is pulling out of the business. And that could jeopardize recipients' access to fresh food."
"After CNN, NBC News, Fox News and Facebook either refused to run or stopped running a racist ad funded by his 2020 reelection campaign, President Donald Trump was dismissive Monday."
"False claims that ICE is interfering at polling locations have cropped up intermittently over the past two years. In the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, for example, an image spread on Twitter appearing to show an immigration officer arresting someone in line to vote. The image was a hoax." Because even ICE knows that despite conservative hysteria to the contrary, undocumented immigrants don't vote. Basically this is a scare tactic to keep hispanics from voting.
The president says, "toughest sanctions ever." The world says, "Iran's oil exports have fallen sharply since President Donald Trump said he would re-impose sanctions on Tehran earlier this year, but with waivers in hand, the Islamic republic's major buyers could scale up orders as soon as next month."
Remember the "Russians don't seem to be interfering in this election" stories? "The hackers have targeted voter registration databases, election officials, and networks across the country, from counties in the Southwest to a city government in the Midwest, according to Department of Homeland Security election threat reports reviewed by the Globe. The agency says publicly all the recent attempts have been prevented or mitigated, but internal documents show hackers have had 'limited success.'" (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Following last year’s tax cut, Republicans have been plotting to cut social insurance in the name of debt reduction — but wanted to wait until after the election to do so." Again, you pay separate taxes to support those. But in this age of not actually getting a check and most people rarely check their stubs online, most people don't realize that. These programs have nothing to do with the debt (except that they've been financing the debt for a long time, as any excess these taxes brought in were spent on buying government bonds). "If Republicans hold onto Congress — or even if they keep one chamber — threats to social insurance will loom over every fiscal deadline, every behind-the-scenes congressional huddle." Note the next fiscal "cliff" is December 7th.
"Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity made a cameo appearance on stage Monday night at President Donald Trump's final midterm rally, going back on the pledge he had made hours earlier not to appear on stage with the president." Because of course he would.
"The crowd at President Donald Trump’s rally in Missouri on Monday evening began singing "Amazing Grace" after a woman collapsed and needed medical attention." And then the Fox Article goes on to explain "Amazing Grace" as a song. First class journalism right there, folks. And a prime example of why the evangelicals love Trump, a serial adulterer, con man, and liar.
"As I go from door to door, I have started telling the Democrats what I learned in my decades working for Republicans. Republicans win because they never, ever give up, and because Democrats do. But maybe, after Kavanaugh, Democrats will realize it’s time they change their tactics." (Grokked from Ellen Kushner)
"Under normal circumstances, America's midterm elections tend to elicit shrugs outside the U.S. The world usually focuses on U.S. elections when the president's name is on the ballot. But if you're an American overseas these days, you may be quizzed on what will happen in Tuesday's midterms." And it's not for good reasons. The rest of the world is wondering if we'll come to our senses.
And here let me remind everybody that even if the Democrats take back the House today, Trump will not be impeached. If the the House would approve articles of impeachment, to actually remove him from office requires a super-majority of the Senate. Even if the Democrats won every single Senate seat up for election this year, they wouldn't have enough. And good luck getting Republicans to see the sense in removing Trump.
"The spacesuit-wearing mannequin and its red Tesla Roadster have now sped beyond the orbit of Mars after launching into space in February aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the aerospace manufacturer said Nov. 2 in a tweet."
And now we go to Wisconsin and their economic miracle of Foxconn. "And while many - including this site - accused the project of being a giant taxpayer-funded boondoggle, calculating that every job created would cost some $230,000 in incentives, a little over a year later and even more disturbing "glitch" in the plan has emerged: according to the WSJ, instead of hiring local talent, Foxconn is considering bringing in personnel from China 'to help staff the large facility under construction in southern Wisconsin as it struggles to find engineers and other workers in one of the tightest labor markets in the U.S.'" Con, it's right there in the name. (Grokked in a roundabout way from Xeni Jardin)
And then, "Mason reiterated Foxconn’s promise that it will eventually create thirteen thousand 'permanent' jobs in Wisconsin. But the company recently changed the type of factory it plans to build, downsizing to a highly automated plant that will only require three thousand employees, ninety per cent of them 'knowledge workers,' such as engineers, programmers, and designers. Almost all of the assembly work will be done by robots." That's a fairly long article that discusses a lot of other "changes" Foxconn demanded, the government running roughshod over their citizens, and how a large corporation could bend a weak conservative government to their will all for a good photo op. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"President Donald Trump's move to deploy troops to the U.S.-Mexico border is so far shaping up to have a cost of $220 million, according to two U.S. defense officials who were not authorized to speak publicly." Party of fiscal responsibility my Aunt Fanny. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Two Elkhart, Indiana, police officers who punched a handcuffed man in the face more than 10 times will face criminal charges — 11 months after the fact, and only after The South Bend Tribune requested video of the incident as part of an ongoing investigation with ProPublica." (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"(The shooter) was described as a brooding military veteran and former teacher, who appeared to have made videos detailing his hatred of everything from the Affordable Care Act to girls who’d allegedly mistreated him in middle school. The videos were posted four years ago, and were removed from YouTube after the shooting." A student attacked the shooter with a broom, got the gun away from him, but then lost the gun back to the shooter which was when the shooter took his own life.
"(SCOTUS) on Monday rejected appeals from the telecommunications industry seeking to throw out a lower court ruling in favor of the “net neutrality” rules. The Federal Communications Commission under President Donald Trump has rolled back the rules, but the industry also wanted to wipe the court ruling off the books."
"As the first active-duty military troops sent to the U.S. border with Mexico installed coils of razor wire on a bridge and a riverbank Friday, a sense of unease spread across Texas’ Rio Grande Valley… President Donald Trump’s portrayal of a border under siege by drug smugglers and other criminals is at odds with what residents in towns along the 1,954-mile (3,126-kilometer) divide with Mexico see in their daily routines, with U.S. border towns consistently ranking among the safest in the country." Wag the dog, baby. And once again, seeking asylum is a legal activity and a legal way of entering a country.
"A change this year in federal contracts has left some farmers market operators and advocates nervous. A company that has long provided the technology to 1,700 farmers markets across the country that accept benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, says it is pulling out of the business. And that could jeopardize recipients' access to fresh food."
"After CNN, NBC News, Fox News and Facebook either refused to run or stopped running a racist ad funded by his 2020 reelection campaign, President Donald Trump was dismissive Monday."
"False claims that ICE is interfering at polling locations have cropped up intermittently over the past two years. In the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, for example, an image spread on Twitter appearing to show an immigration officer arresting someone in line to vote. The image was a hoax." Because even ICE knows that despite conservative hysteria to the contrary, undocumented immigrants don't vote. Basically this is a scare tactic to keep hispanics from voting.
The president says, "toughest sanctions ever." The world says, "Iran's oil exports have fallen sharply since President Donald Trump said he would re-impose sanctions on Tehran earlier this year, but with waivers in hand, the Islamic republic's major buyers could scale up orders as soon as next month."
Remember the "Russians don't seem to be interfering in this election" stories? "The hackers have targeted voter registration databases, election officials, and networks across the country, from counties in the Southwest to a city government in the Midwest, according to Department of Homeland Security election threat reports reviewed by the Globe. The agency says publicly all the recent attempts have been prevented or mitigated, but internal documents show hackers have had 'limited success.'" (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Following last year’s tax cut, Republicans have been plotting to cut social insurance in the name of debt reduction — but wanted to wait until after the election to do so." Again, you pay separate taxes to support those. But in this age of not actually getting a check and most people rarely check their stubs online, most people don't realize that. These programs have nothing to do with the debt (except that they've been financing the debt for a long time, as any excess these taxes brought in were spent on buying government bonds). "If Republicans hold onto Congress — or even if they keep one chamber — threats to social insurance will loom over every fiscal deadline, every behind-the-scenes congressional huddle." Note the next fiscal "cliff" is December 7th.
"Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity made a cameo appearance on stage Monday night at President Donald Trump's final midterm rally, going back on the pledge he had made hours earlier not to appear on stage with the president." Because of course he would.
"The crowd at President Donald Trump’s rally in Missouri on Monday evening began singing "Amazing Grace" after a woman collapsed and needed medical attention." And then the Fox Article goes on to explain "Amazing Grace" as a song. First class journalism right there, folks. And a prime example of why the evangelicals love Trump, a serial adulterer, con man, and liar.
"As I go from door to door, I have started telling the Democrats what I learned in my decades working for Republicans. Republicans win because they never, ever give up, and because Democrats do. But maybe, after Kavanaugh, Democrats will realize it’s time they change their tactics." (Grokked from Ellen Kushner)
"Under normal circumstances, America's midterm elections tend to elicit shrugs outside the U.S. The world usually focuses on U.S. elections when the president's name is on the ballot. But if you're an American overseas these days, you may be quizzed on what will happen in Tuesday's midterms." And it's not for good reasons. The rest of the world is wondering if we'll come to our senses.
And here let me remind everybody that even if the Democrats take back the House today, Trump will not be impeached. If the the House would approve articles of impeachment, to actually remove him from office requires a super-majority of the Senate. Even if the Democrats won every single Senate seat up for election this year, they wouldn't have enough. And good luck getting Republicans to see the sense in removing Trump.
Monday, November 5, 2018
Linkee-poo, you better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone
"Below are samples of my pitching and development documents, pilot and episodic scripts, and other writing. While my own career is a work in progress, and nothing below is in any way definitive, or even "good" and "correct" for that matter, I hope that by reading the documents below - some for successful sales, others for failed experiments and unsold projects - those looking for guidance will find a useful example." (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
"Since March 2009, NASA has discovered more than 2,600 planets, including potentially habitable ones, thanks to the Kepler Space Telescope. Last week, after nearly a decade of hunting for new planets, the Kepler finally ran out of fuel. NASA decided to officially retire Kepler within its current orbit, away from Earth, on Oct. 30, 2018."
"A new opioid tablet that is 1,000 times more potent than morphine and 10 times stronger than fentanyl was approved by the Food and Drug Administration Friday as a fast-acting alternative to IV painkillers used in hospitals." Because why would we need new antibiotics when they can sell us new pain killers?
"A man in Australia has died from rat lungworm caused by a garden slug he ate for a dare eight years earlier." Look peoples, don't eat worms. Okay? Yes, I know slugs aren't worms. But you get what I'm saying, right?
"The growing number of campaigns to ban plastic waste are putting pressure on companies to find alternatives – not just for straws, but for all kinds of plastic packaging. So BillerudKorsnäs tests out products they hope to sell in the budding market for plastic replacements." It may just be a designer thing, but man I love coming up with a good cardboard packaging design that solves a lot of mechanical problems.
So, as you may know, I'm kinda a DebbieDowner on human level AI (or being able to "upload" your brain) in computers. There's a reason for this. We don't know, really, how the brain actually works. "Miller and Constantinidis agree that working memory is critical to just about everything the brain does… But they are on opposite sides of a lively debate about how working memory works." And they may both be wrong. The brain is not a computer. It's just that computers are the most complex machine we have now (and frankly, digital subtraction is still beyond most people's ken). That's why we compare the brain to a computer.
"But maybe the hours she spent lining those little blocks ('tetriminos') into perfect rows of 10 weren't a total waste. Her latest research suggests that Tetris can ease us through periods of anxiety, by getting us to a blissfully engrossed mental state that psychologists call 'flow.'" As a young man (okay, in my 20s) I had dreams of Tetris. Just say no. This is just distraction (which, yes, can sometimes be helpful).
"Should I start drawing down my savings or claim Social Security early?… There's no perfect answer, but here's what you should consider."
"Trump has sought to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. funding for AIDS programs at home and abroad, but the U2 frontman says members of Congress 'have so far turned down this president’s request to cut AIDS funding — right and left in lockstep together on this.'"
"World stocks slipped on Monday, halting a four-day recovery rally as anxiety surrounding global trade conditions and rising U.S. interest rates dampened risk appetite." ZOMG, uncertainty. What'll we ever do? Note that you don't hear the conservatives, who were all against uncertainty up until 2 years ago, sounding the alarm klaxon this time. "'Everyone’s on hold until the (end-November) G20 and also the Fed coming up,' said Arbuthnot Latham’s Perdon. 'Our sense is absolutely that there’s a lot of cash on the sidelines right now.'" You mean the market is making a bet that also looks quite similar as to what they would do if they felt we were approaching a recession? You don't say.
"There is unspeakable sadness in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The community gathered Sunday night to remember four lives taken suddenly in a hit-and-run crash, reports CBS Minnesota… Three young Girl Scouts and a mother were killed Saturday while cleaning garbage out of a ditch in Lake Hallie, Wisconsin."
"A big group of Central Americans pushed on toward Mexico City from a coastal state Monday, planning to exit a part of the country that has long been treacherous for migrants seeking to get to the United States."
"A hunting guide and his client accidentally shot each other and then blamed it on undocumented migrants, police in the US have said." But not after they raised almost $26,000 on GoFundMe. Paranoia strikes deep. (Grokked from Vincent O'Connor)
For the "more guns make us safer" crowd. "An 11-year-old boy shot and killed his grandmother before turning the gun on himself Saturday, the boy's grandfather told police in Arizona… The Litchfield Park man told detectives that he and his 65-year-old wife 'asked their grandson to clean his room and pick up after himself throughout the day, as he was being stubborn about it,' Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Joaquin Enriquez said in a statement Sunday."
Fox News host fact checks Fox News host in real time. Awkward.
"A New York federal judge is poised to hear evidence from critics of a Commerce Department decision to put a citizenship question on the 2020 Census."
"The U.S. has officially imposed what the Trump administration describes as the 'toughest ever' sanctions against Iran, meant to curb Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and contain its growing influence in the Middle East." "Toughest ever" translates to a subset of what we had in place before the nuclear deal, and significantly less international support. The president can not tell the truth.
"Around the world, conservative groups have been gaining influence, bolstering the power of right-wing leaders. It is a trend driven not only by older generations but also by the young." And, again, it's mostly driven by fear.
"In the final days before pivotal midterm elections, President Donald Trump is painting a distorted picture of immigration while exaggerating his record of achieving economic gains for non-whites and improving health care for veterans."
"House forecast: Democrats will win 226 seats (and the House majority) while Republicans will win just 209 seats. A Democratic win of 203 seats and 262 seats is within the margin of error."
"Republicans would have to sweep virtually all of the 22 races currently rated as toss-ups to hold onto their House majority — a nearly insurmountable challenge — according to a new POLITICO analysis." From this weekend's talking heads shows, basically nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. Good chance the Dems take the House, the Senate is a tossup. But what is more important are the local/statewide races.
"'A vote for any Democrat this November is a vote to really put extreme far-left politicians in charge of Congress and to destroy your jobs, slash your incomes, undermine your safety and put illegal aliens before American citizens. Not good.' — President Donald Trump on the stakes of the midterm elections." Again with the projection. "Barbed wire, used properly, can be a beautiful sight." Arbeit macht frei.
On the Media podcast, "After a week of hate-fueled attacks, we examine the "dotted line" from incitement to violence. We dig deep into tribalism and how it widens the gulf between Republicans and Democrats. Plus, the history of antisemitic propaganda and how it inspires modern-day violence. Also, why is the GOP running against California in midterm races around the country?"
But, hey, the good thing is on Wednesday we can start talking about 2020 (and a groan went up from the crowd).
"Since March 2009, NASA has discovered more than 2,600 planets, including potentially habitable ones, thanks to the Kepler Space Telescope. Last week, after nearly a decade of hunting for new planets, the Kepler finally ran out of fuel. NASA decided to officially retire Kepler within its current orbit, away from Earth, on Oct. 30, 2018."
"A new opioid tablet that is 1,000 times more potent than morphine and 10 times stronger than fentanyl was approved by the Food and Drug Administration Friday as a fast-acting alternative to IV painkillers used in hospitals." Because why would we need new antibiotics when they can sell us new pain killers?
"A man in Australia has died from rat lungworm caused by a garden slug he ate for a dare eight years earlier." Look peoples, don't eat worms. Okay? Yes, I know slugs aren't worms. But you get what I'm saying, right?
"The growing number of campaigns to ban plastic waste are putting pressure on companies to find alternatives – not just for straws, but for all kinds of plastic packaging. So BillerudKorsnäs tests out products they hope to sell in the budding market for plastic replacements." It may just be a designer thing, but man I love coming up with a good cardboard packaging design that solves a lot of mechanical problems.
So, as you may know, I'm kinda a DebbieDowner on human level AI (or being able to "upload" your brain) in computers. There's a reason for this. We don't know, really, how the brain actually works. "Miller and Constantinidis agree that working memory is critical to just about everything the brain does… But they are on opposite sides of a lively debate about how working memory works." And they may both be wrong. The brain is not a computer. It's just that computers are the most complex machine we have now (and frankly, digital subtraction is still beyond most people's ken). That's why we compare the brain to a computer.
"But maybe the hours she spent lining those little blocks ('tetriminos') into perfect rows of 10 weren't a total waste. Her latest research suggests that Tetris can ease us through periods of anxiety, by getting us to a blissfully engrossed mental state that psychologists call 'flow.'" As a young man (okay, in my 20s) I had dreams of Tetris. Just say no. This is just distraction (which, yes, can sometimes be helpful).
"Should I start drawing down my savings or claim Social Security early?… There's no perfect answer, but here's what you should consider."
"Trump has sought to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. funding for AIDS programs at home and abroad, but the U2 frontman says members of Congress 'have so far turned down this president’s request to cut AIDS funding — right and left in lockstep together on this.'"
"World stocks slipped on Monday, halting a four-day recovery rally as anxiety surrounding global trade conditions and rising U.S. interest rates dampened risk appetite." ZOMG, uncertainty. What'll we ever do? Note that you don't hear the conservatives, who were all against uncertainty up until 2 years ago, sounding the alarm klaxon this time. "'Everyone’s on hold until the (end-November) G20 and also the Fed coming up,' said Arbuthnot Latham’s Perdon. 'Our sense is absolutely that there’s a lot of cash on the sidelines right now.'" You mean the market is making a bet that also looks quite similar as to what they would do if they felt we were approaching a recession? You don't say.
"There is unspeakable sadness in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The community gathered Sunday night to remember four lives taken suddenly in a hit-and-run crash, reports CBS Minnesota… Three young Girl Scouts and a mother were killed Saturday while cleaning garbage out of a ditch in Lake Hallie, Wisconsin."
"A big group of Central Americans pushed on toward Mexico City from a coastal state Monday, planning to exit a part of the country that has long been treacherous for migrants seeking to get to the United States."
"A hunting guide and his client accidentally shot each other and then blamed it on undocumented migrants, police in the US have said." But not after they raised almost $26,000 on GoFundMe. Paranoia strikes deep. (Grokked from Vincent O'Connor)
For the "more guns make us safer" crowd. "An 11-year-old boy shot and killed his grandmother before turning the gun on himself Saturday, the boy's grandfather told police in Arizona… The Litchfield Park man told detectives that he and his 65-year-old wife 'asked their grandson to clean his room and pick up after himself throughout the day, as he was being stubborn about it,' Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Joaquin Enriquez said in a statement Sunday."
Fox News host fact checks Fox News host in real time. Awkward.
"A New York federal judge is poised to hear evidence from critics of a Commerce Department decision to put a citizenship question on the 2020 Census."
"The U.S. has officially imposed what the Trump administration describes as the 'toughest ever' sanctions against Iran, meant to curb Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and contain its growing influence in the Middle East." "Toughest ever" translates to a subset of what we had in place before the nuclear deal, and significantly less international support. The president can not tell the truth.
"Around the world, conservative groups have been gaining influence, bolstering the power of right-wing leaders. It is a trend driven not only by older generations but also by the young." And, again, it's mostly driven by fear.
"In the final days before pivotal midterm elections, President Donald Trump is painting a distorted picture of immigration while exaggerating his record of achieving economic gains for non-whites and improving health care for veterans."
"House forecast: Democrats will win 226 seats (and the House majority) while Republicans will win just 209 seats. A Democratic win of 203 seats and 262 seats is within the margin of error."
"Republicans would have to sweep virtually all of the 22 races currently rated as toss-ups to hold onto their House majority — a nearly insurmountable challenge — according to a new POLITICO analysis." From this weekend's talking heads shows, basically nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. Good chance the Dems take the House, the Senate is a tossup. But what is more important are the local/statewide races.
"'A vote for any Democrat this November is a vote to really put extreme far-left politicians in charge of Congress and to destroy your jobs, slash your incomes, undermine your safety and put illegal aliens before American citizens. Not good.' — President Donald Trump on the stakes of the midterm elections." Again with the projection. "Barbed wire, used properly, can be a beautiful sight." Arbeit macht frei.
On the Media podcast, "After a week of hate-fueled attacks, we examine the "dotted line" from incitement to violence. We dig deep into tribalism and how it widens the gulf between Republicans and Democrats. Plus, the history of antisemitic propaganda and how it inspires modern-day violence. Also, why is the GOP running against California in midterm races around the country?"
But, hey, the good thing is on Wednesday we can start talking about 2020 (and a groan went up from the crowd).
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Linkee-poo weekend before an election
Go out and vote.
"A Los Angeles area teacher who was captured on video punching a student repeatedly was released from jail Saturday after being held overnight on allegations of child abuse… A student is seen on cellphone video captured by students confronting the man, alleging that he spoke ill of the teen. At first Riley appears to be patient as the student curses at him, calls him a racial epithet, and challenges the man." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"But a new paper by the same authors (Sci-Hub mirror) shows that the rising minimum wage generated major increases for the workers who had the most hours, whose hours were only cut a little, but still came out ahead thanks to the wage increase…" (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"A Washington state politician has suggested in a manifesto that all men who support abortion and gay marriage be killed, among other extreme religious views… Washington state Rep. Matt Shea admitted Wednesday that he wrote and distributed the four-page document, called the 'Biblical Basis for War,' which includes 14 sections on how biblical war can and would unfold. Shea, a Republican who represents Spokane in the state’s House, is up for re-election in the midterms next week." Marching, marching to shibboleth with the Eagle and the Sword. That's okay, Rep. Matt Shea, I've often wondered if we shouldn't have another Age of Martyrs which your types like to compare yourselves to. The "Christian" fascination with the God of the Old Testament never ceases to astound me. Because the New Testament is the new covenant between Christians and God. He threw out all the old rules and gave you a new handbook. You Christian types might want to check it out. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
What do you do when your faced with defeat? "Georgia's Secretary of State's office says it has launched an investigation into a 'failed attempt to hack the state's voter registration system' on Saturday evening… The office of Brian Kemp, who is also the Republican candidate for governor, said in a Sunday morning news release that they will investigate the Georgia Democratic Party as part of its probe, but did not offer any details on why it is investigating the Democratic party." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"As recently as Monday, computer servers that powered Kentucky’s online voter registration and Wisconsin’s reporting of election results ran software that could potentially expose information to hackers or enable access to sensitive files without a password." In network security you are only as secure as the weakest link in the system. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"'Estimated 200 unregulated armed militia members currently operating along the southwest border. Reported incidents of unregulated militias stealing National Guard equipment during deployments. They operate under the guise of citizen patrols supporting CBP [Customs and Border Protection] primarily between POEs [Points of Entry],' according to the documents." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"The man who shot dead two women at a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday before killing himself was a far-right extremist and self-proclaimed misogynist who railed against women, black people, and immigrants in a series of online videos and songs." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"On October 24th, Takeyla Singleton, a housekeeper at a Best Western hotel in Cordele, Georgia, posted a two-minute video to her Facebook account. Earlier that day, Singleton, who is African-American, like the majority of the town’s residents, had filmed Royce Reeves, Sr.—a forty-six-year-old barber and an elected city commissioner—receiving a ticket for illegally parking a limousine on Highway 19. Reeves, who is also black, had recently borrowed the vehicle to take poor or unmotivated residents to the polls to vote early." Seven cars, a mixture of state and local police, responded to the incident… of a black man illegally parked. That's what official racial intimidation looks like. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Then the whole thing blew up. Cohen, it turns out, doesn’t actually exist. His real name is Jacob Wohl, and he’s a pro-Trump twitter troll and former teenage hedge fund manager with the dubious distinction of being the youngest person ever to earn a lifetime trading ban from the National Futures Association." (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"A Los Angeles area teacher who was captured on video punching a student repeatedly was released from jail Saturday after being held overnight on allegations of child abuse… A student is seen on cellphone video captured by students confronting the man, alleging that he spoke ill of the teen. At first Riley appears to be patient as the student curses at him, calls him a racial epithet, and challenges the man." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"But a new paper by the same authors (Sci-Hub mirror) shows that the rising minimum wage generated major increases for the workers who had the most hours, whose hours were only cut a little, but still came out ahead thanks to the wage increase…" (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"A Washington state politician has suggested in a manifesto that all men who support abortion and gay marriage be killed, among other extreme religious views… Washington state Rep. Matt Shea admitted Wednesday that he wrote and distributed the four-page document, called the 'Biblical Basis for War,' which includes 14 sections on how biblical war can and would unfold. Shea, a Republican who represents Spokane in the state’s House, is up for re-election in the midterms next week." Marching, marching to shibboleth with the Eagle and the Sword. That's okay, Rep. Matt Shea, I've often wondered if we shouldn't have another Age of Martyrs which your types like to compare yourselves to. The "Christian" fascination with the God of the Old Testament never ceases to astound me. Because the New Testament is the new covenant between Christians and God. He threw out all the old rules and gave you a new handbook. You Christian types might want to check it out. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
What do you do when your faced with defeat? "Georgia's Secretary of State's office says it has launched an investigation into a 'failed attempt to hack the state's voter registration system' on Saturday evening… The office of Brian Kemp, who is also the Republican candidate for governor, said in a Sunday morning news release that they will investigate the Georgia Democratic Party as part of its probe, but did not offer any details on why it is investigating the Democratic party." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"As recently as Monday, computer servers that powered Kentucky’s online voter registration and Wisconsin’s reporting of election results ran software that could potentially expose information to hackers or enable access to sensitive files without a password." In network security you are only as secure as the weakest link in the system. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"'Estimated 200 unregulated armed militia members currently operating along the southwest border. Reported incidents of unregulated militias stealing National Guard equipment during deployments. They operate under the guise of citizen patrols supporting CBP [Customs and Border Protection] primarily between POEs [Points of Entry],' according to the documents." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"The man who shot dead two women at a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday before killing himself was a far-right extremist and self-proclaimed misogynist who railed against women, black people, and immigrants in a series of online videos and songs." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"On October 24th, Takeyla Singleton, a housekeeper at a Best Western hotel in Cordele, Georgia, posted a two-minute video to her Facebook account. Earlier that day, Singleton, who is African-American, like the majority of the town’s residents, had filmed Royce Reeves, Sr.—a forty-six-year-old barber and an elected city commissioner—receiving a ticket for illegally parking a limousine on Highway 19. Reeves, who is also black, had recently borrowed the vehicle to take poor or unmotivated residents to the polls to vote early." Seven cars, a mixture of state and local police, responded to the incident… of a black man illegally parked. That's what official racial intimidation looks like. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Then the whole thing blew up. Cohen, it turns out, doesn’t actually exist. His real name is Jacob Wohl, and he’s a pro-Trump twitter troll and former teenage hedge fund manager with the dubious distinction of being the youngest person ever to earn a lifetime trading ban from the National Futures Association." (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Friday, November 2, 2018
Linkee-poo the days were endless, we were crazy, we were young, the sun was always shining and we just lived for fun
Cyberpunk must evolve. Actually the article, after dissing cyberpunk dystopias, then disses it for not providing a way for the populous to overcome, only the individual. Well, one, that's story. They're asking for history. Two, maybe it's not there because nobody can figure a way for society to get out of such dystopias (because even if they did, the environmental degradation would still be there). This also misses how cyberpunk dystopias provide bread and circuses to keep the population in check, or at least distracted. It's only those misfits for whom those hooks don't work. The dispossessed who either must overcome, be crushed, or disappear into the proletariate masses by living a fake life. But I understand the want for new stories, because while cyberpunk was telling us, "this is not the future you want," we now see that future may be inevitable. Will there be a "let them eat cake" moment, and if so, will the cogs of the machine even have the ability to realize they could change their world? Signs at this point are not hopeful. Wouldn't it be nice to have a convenient road map out of this hell? But it's up to us to find the way, and it won't be an easy path. (Grokked from Leah Bobet)
"The world's oceans have absorbed about 60% more heat during the past 25 years than previously estimated, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. The study takes advantage of a new method that can serve as a whole ocean thermometer… If the ocean is absorbing even more heat than observed, it would suggest future global warming will track on the upper end of projections — possibly as high as 5°C, or 9°F, by 2100 if emissions are not significantly curtailed." We're boned.
"This week… the EPA finally announced its decision. Calling dicamba 'a valuable pest control tool,' it gave farmers a green light to keep spraying the chemical on new varieties of soybeans and cotton that have been genetically modified to tolerate dicamba." Monsanto's profits thank the EPA, our biodiversity was on a ventilator and was unavailable for comment. And in twenty years they'll have to come up with something else as weeds become resistant, as they did to glyphosate.
"NASA's Mars rover known as Opportunity has been on Mars nearly 15 years, a wee bit longer than the 90 days it was originally designed for… But NASA hasn't heard from the plucky rover since June." Come on, Oppy, phone home.
"The problem, the officials said, boiled down to a 'bent' sensor on one of the rocket's four boosters that failed to properly signal stage separation. This caused one of the booster stages to improperly separate from the rocket, which can be seen in the video released by the space agency. This booster then struck the core of the rocket, causing a significant jolt and triggering one of the Soyuz spacecraft's automatic escape systems." But, "(t)he problem… appears to lie in the relatively low wages Russia pays in its aerospace industry and resulting quality control issues." (Grokked from John)
On Naloxone, how it works, and why some might not want it. That's a simplification, and is mostly a story about a reporter being confused as to how to respond to an emergency. The person's companion was the one to refuse. If the patient is conscious enough to refuse, they don't need Naloxone. I've seen people who have been revived, it is not a good time for them. (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
"We really shouldn't put price controls of pharmaceuticals," some people say, "look at all the good things they do and the discounts they offer." Oh really? "The pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. is ending a long-term agreement to supply a lifesaving vaccine for children in West Africa… At the same time, the company has started sending the vaccine to China, where it will likely be sold for a much higher price."
"The couple, busy with their newborn third child, Cameron, decided to get Leon a flu shot when they were going to the pediatrician anyway: when 2-year-old Tristan had his annual visit, scheduled for January 3… Leon died 10 days before that appointment." Get the goddamn flu shot.
"Employers added 250,000 jobs in October, more than analysts expected, as the jobless rate remained at 3.7 percent, a nearly 50-year low, the Labor Department said Friday." And generally, that's good news, although some of it is a rebound from last month's lower numbers. Also, wages are up… slightly. Like a little better than inflation. And that's the first time in many years. So a good report for the GOP heading into the election, but the question comes to "are the people feeling it?"
"Stocks around the world were rallying sharply Friday after news of a potential trade breakthrough between the United States and China seemed to counter the brutal sell-off that characterized markets in October." Note this is just talk of Trump being willing to negotiate, not any actual deal.
"Police are investigating the mysterious deaths of two sisters from Saudi Arabia whose bodies, bound together with tape, washed up on New York City’s waterfront last week… Their mother told detectives the day before the bodies were discovered, she received a call from an official at the Saudi Arabian Embassy, ordering the family to leave the U.S. because her daughters had applied for political asylum, New York police said Tuesday." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Controversial Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach was called out for his racism and voter suppression during a Wednesday appearance with Anderson Cooper on CNN… Kobach was attempting to defend the administration’s attempt to revoke the birthright citizenship protections in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution via presidential proclamation by Donald Trump."
"In 2015, as a presidential candidate, Donald Trump called for 'a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.' Despite the tough talk throughout the campaign, roughly 17 percent of American Muslims favored a Trump victory… So how do Muslim-Americans who voted for Trump then feel about him now, nearly two years since his administration introduced the controversial travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries?" Sorry, it's only a a video. People are complex. Also, while you watch (or listen) keep this word in mind, Stockholm Syndrome. Also this quote I've seen many times on twitter, "'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party." (I think that quote is attributed to Adrian Bott)
"Roughly 80 percent of voters say they are concerned that the negative tone and lack of civility in Washington will lead to violence or acts of terror, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted after the deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue… But they are divided on who is the most to blame." Do I need to state how it's divided along party lines? There's been a lot of talk about how divided we are and the polls that show it. Mostly they're reported in a "both sides have extreme positions" because there's very little "middle ground." But I'd like you to look at some of these with the concept of "a majority of Americans are dealing with reality, and there are some differences there, but a distinct minority of Americans see the world through a media bubble created to insulate them from criticism and to affirm their deepest fears." I leave it as a exercise for the reader as to which poll responses fall into which category.
"Democrats in tough Senate races around the country are throwing their party under the bus as the seek to pull out victories in red states won just two years ago by President Trump." Ah, the old "Democrats are abandoning their party" story. Evergreen.
"The last few weeks of any election are all about leaving one last impression with voters — a reminder of where a candidate stands and what he or she believes. This year in particular, the only closing argument that matters for Republicans is where they stand on President Trump."
"The world's oceans have absorbed about 60% more heat during the past 25 years than previously estimated, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. The study takes advantage of a new method that can serve as a whole ocean thermometer… If the ocean is absorbing even more heat than observed, it would suggest future global warming will track on the upper end of projections — possibly as high as 5°C, or 9°F, by 2100 if emissions are not significantly curtailed." We're boned.
"This week… the EPA finally announced its decision. Calling dicamba 'a valuable pest control tool,' it gave farmers a green light to keep spraying the chemical on new varieties of soybeans and cotton that have been genetically modified to tolerate dicamba." Monsanto's profits thank the EPA, our biodiversity was on a ventilator and was unavailable for comment. And in twenty years they'll have to come up with something else as weeds become resistant, as they did to glyphosate.
"NASA's Mars rover known as Opportunity has been on Mars nearly 15 years, a wee bit longer than the 90 days it was originally designed for… But NASA hasn't heard from the plucky rover since June." Come on, Oppy, phone home.
"The problem, the officials said, boiled down to a 'bent' sensor on one of the rocket's four boosters that failed to properly signal stage separation. This caused one of the booster stages to improperly separate from the rocket, which can be seen in the video released by the space agency. This booster then struck the core of the rocket, causing a significant jolt and triggering one of the Soyuz spacecraft's automatic escape systems." But, "(t)he problem… appears to lie in the relatively low wages Russia pays in its aerospace industry and resulting quality control issues." (Grokked from John)
On Naloxone, how it works, and why some might not want it. That's a simplification, and is mostly a story about a reporter being confused as to how to respond to an emergency. The person's companion was the one to refuse. If the patient is conscious enough to refuse, they don't need Naloxone. I've seen people who have been revived, it is not a good time for them. (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
"We really shouldn't put price controls of pharmaceuticals," some people say, "look at all the good things they do and the discounts they offer." Oh really? "The pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. is ending a long-term agreement to supply a lifesaving vaccine for children in West Africa… At the same time, the company has started sending the vaccine to China, where it will likely be sold for a much higher price."
"The couple, busy with their newborn third child, Cameron, decided to get Leon a flu shot when they were going to the pediatrician anyway: when 2-year-old Tristan had his annual visit, scheduled for January 3… Leon died 10 days before that appointment." Get the goddamn flu shot.
"Employers added 250,000 jobs in October, more than analysts expected, as the jobless rate remained at 3.7 percent, a nearly 50-year low, the Labor Department said Friday." And generally, that's good news, although some of it is a rebound from last month's lower numbers. Also, wages are up… slightly. Like a little better than inflation. And that's the first time in many years. So a good report for the GOP heading into the election, but the question comes to "are the people feeling it?"
"Stocks around the world were rallying sharply Friday after news of a potential trade breakthrough between the United States and China seemed to counter the brutal sell-off that characterized markets in October." Note this is just talk of Trump being willing to negotiate, not any actual deal.
"Police are investigating the mysterious deaths of two sisters from Saudi Arabia whose bodies, bound together with tape, washed up on New York City’s waterfront last week… Their mother told detectives the day before the bodies were discovered, she received a call from an official at the Saudi Arabian Embassy, ordering the family to leave the U.S. because her daughters had applied for political asylum, New York police said Tuesday." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Controversial Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach was called out for his racism and voter suppression during a Wednesday appearance with Anderson Cooper on CNN… Kobach was attempting to defend the administration’s attempt to revoke the birthright citizenship protections in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution via presidential proclamation by Donald Trump."
"In 2015, as a presidential candidate, Donald Trump called for 'a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.' Despite the tough talk throughout the campaign, roughly 17 percent of American Muslims favored a Trump victory… So how do Muslim-Americans who voted for Trump then feel about him now, nearly two years since his administration introduced the controversial travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries?" Sorry, it's only a a video. People are complex. Also, while you watch (or listen) keep this word in mind, Stockholm Syndrome. Also this quote I've seen many times on twitter, "'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party." (I think that quote is attributed to Adrian Bott)
"Roughly 80 percent of voters say they are concerned that the negative tone and lack of civility in Washington will lead to violence or acts of terror, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted after the deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue… But they are divided on who is the most to blame." Do I need to state how it's divided along party lines? There's been a lot of talk about how divided we are and the polls that show it. Mostly they're reported in a "both sides have extreme positions" because there's very little "middle ground." But I'd like you to look at some of these with the concept of "a majority of Americans are dealing with reality, and there are some differences there, but a distinct minority of Americans see the world through a media bubble created to insulate them from criticism and to affirm their deepest fears." I leave it as a exercise for the reader as to which poll responses fall into which category.
"Democrats in tough Senate races around the country are throwing their party under the bus as the seek to pull out victories in red states won just two years ago by President Trump." Ah, the old "Democrats are abandoning their party" story. Evergreen.
"The last few weeks of any election are all about leaving one last impression with voters — a reminder of where a candidate stands and what he or she believes. This year in particular, the only closing argument that matters for Republicans is where they stand on President Trump."
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Linkee-poo, rest your weary head and let your heart decide
A little late for Halloween (my fault for not being able to read my social media feeds while working), but interesting. "While happily going about my research, I recalled something I’d read not long after I started working for the CREWS Project – a reference to a Mesopotamian family who worked as exorcists. I’d always found this a fun concept and tweeted about it." (Grokked from S.A. Chakraborty)
A podcast for historical fantasy. I haven't listened to it yet, but you might find it handy. (Grokked from Cat Rambo)
"Here Is How You NaNoWriMo, You Ruinous Monster, You." Chuck Wendig on the Writers Season before us. "You are here to ruin a perfectly good empty page. And that isn’t just the purview of this month — but it’s writing any story, on any day."
"The essential question is 'What advice would you give to working-class/poor young people interested in an arts career?' and basically she doesn't really know what to say about it. There are reasons for this. But I have plenty to say!" A tweet storm from Nick Mamatas. Is it possible? looks around, checks pay stub Yes. checks word count on fiction writing these past 8 years No. It comes down to choices, and not the "I left my day job to write full time" choices either. Why haven't I been able to write much fiction? Because I'm the main bread winner of the couple. And I like to be able to take good vacations and buy things when I want them (no, I don't go everywhere everywhen I want, no I don't buy anywhere close to everything I want). But I've been to Alaska, I've been to Yellowstone, and I'll be going to Disney World soon (this is the first time there for my wife and I). To do that and not freak the total fuck out (I still freak out) I work the day job (graphic design), the night job (radiological technologist) and I hustle (freelance and t-shirt design). I was on my way to writing novels. Three months after I went to Viable Paradise I lost my day job (insert long story) and ended up here. I made choices. One of those choices was to develop options so I would have a good chance of remaining gainfully employed until retirement, and to do that I've slighted writing time. I had hoped to be back to it by now, but (insert long story including Nov 8, 2016) that hasn't happened yet. I could choose to give this (waves arms around) blog up to get writing time, but I'd still probably read all the stories I link to anyway, and that's what takes up the time. So can you do it? Yes. It involves sacrifice (including doing "graphic design" instead of "art"). You might not make much money (and the retirement plan sucks). But it is possible. And as Nick says, you have to be better than everyone else in that goddamn building. (Grokked from CC Finlay)
Side note, working in the hospital I've realized that I really should have been a doctor or something more advanced in the medical field. When I started going to college that wasn't even an option (financially and perspective wise). Have some done it? Yes (more claim to have, but when you scratch you find all the help they've been given that they've taken for granted). I wasn't in a place where that was a viable option (to do that, you'd really have to be focused from 6th grade onward, and that was about the time I started saying, "Fuck it"). It's the same thing as poor kids becoming artists. Some do, most who should have, who would have been fantastic at it, don't because it's not a real option for them.
Oh my, what will HBO do now that Game of Thrones is about to end? "The Oscar-nominated 'King Kong' and 'Mulholland Drive' star is the first actor to be attached to a prequel set thousands of years before 'Game of Thrones,' HBO has confirmed." Prequels, of course. Winter was already there.
"Researchers found that, from the age of 40, people at the higher end of the healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) range had the lowest risk of dying from disease… But people at the top and bottom ends of the BMI risked having shorter lives."
"According to brain reconstruction research led by The University of Texas at Austin, the part of the elephant bird brain that processed vision was tiny, a trait that indicates they were nocturnal and possibly blind. The findings were published Oct. 31 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B." The extinct world's giantest bird was mostly likely not all that good at seeing things. Like extinction coming.
"Now, an international team of scientists has studied the Milky Way’s monster using an instrument called GRAVITY to combine the infrared light from four eight-meter telescopes at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. Combining light from multiple telescopes is a technique called interferometry, and can dramatically boost the sensitivity and precision of astronomical observations."
"The DRC's government reports that on average (Ebola) burial teams, health workers and other responders are being threatened like this as often as three or four times a week."
"That sense of mystery was certainly present last week when marine scientists witnessed a sight never before seen by humans: a deep-sea vista of over a thousand octopuses, dotting the ocean floor, curled and wedged among the rocks." I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.
"More than 75% of the Italian city of Venice was inundated by high tides and extreme winds on Monday and Tuesday, leaving most of the so-called 'Floating City' with the worst flooding in a decade. After two days of heavy rain across Italy, Venice, known for its iconic waterways, can hopefully begin to recover."
"On Election Day, Utah residents will be going to the polls to vote on whether the state will join 33 others and Washington, D.C., in expanding Medicaid coverage to a lot more low-income adults. Democrat and Republican states have expanded." But mostly Democratically led states.
What does a democratic theocracy look like? "Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday announced the acquittal of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Catholic woman who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010 for blasphemy in a case that has divided the South Asian country and sparked international outrage." I'm sure the Pakistani Muslims now have common cause with American Christians in feeling that their religion is "under attack."
"One year after the #MeToo movement took off, new NPR-Ipsos polls show the nation deeply divided on sexual assault and harassment, with fissures running more along party lines than gender… On the question of whether false accusations of sexual assault are common, the party gap is quadruple the gender gap: 77 percent of Republicans believe false accusations are common, compared to 37 percent of Democrats." So how's that philosophy working out for you, Jacob Wohl?
"Wisconsin is officially the fourth state to condition Medicaid recipients’ health care on work, even as two other states are currently being sued for their requirements… The state estimates more than 5,000 will no longer have Medicaid coverage due to Wednesday’s changes. It’s also the only state of the four that have work requirements but didn’t expand Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of poverty level."
"Former Vice President Joe Biden pushed back Wednesday on claims by President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans that the GOP can protect patients with pre-existing conditions better than Democrats, saying Republicans are either lying or 'really stupid.'" Why not both. I'm going with both (or at the very least they're liars and they think the rest of us are really stupid). Mostly this posturing of conservatives who have spent the last 8 years trying to overturn those protections outlined in Obamacare (note how many news organizations have reverted to calling it the ACA) trying to cover their asses this election. Also, they're preparing the field for other attempts to destroy Obamacare ("well, they said they would protect pre-existing conditions, so we should be okay if they get rid of that Obamacare").
Usually a president is welcomed to help heal a community. "Mayor Bill Peduto, a Democrat, urged Trump not to visit Pittsburgh 'while we are burying the dead,' so the attention would remain on the victims and their funerals." It's okay, IIRC, President Obama was also not invited into a community to help them heal.
But then, "President Donald Trump makes a hard turn Wednesday from offering empathy to grief-stricken Pittsburgh to the fear and fury of a midterm election closing argument designed to drive up Republican turnout despite the risk of deepening national divides."
"President Donald Trump went after House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday, saying one of the top Republican leaders in the President's party 'knows nothing about' birthright citizenship and 'should be focusing on holding the Majority' in the House of Representatives 'rather than giving his opinions' on the issue." Because if you disagree with the president, he has to attack you. That's his MO.
"A campaign mailer showing a Jewish candidate for state Senate with a fistful of money is drawing condemnation for what critics say is its blatant anti-Semitic imagery… It was sent out by Republican Ed Charamut and targets Democratic state Rep. Matthew Lesser, his opponent in the race for the 9th Senate District seat, which represents Middletown, Wethersfield, Newington, Cromwell and Rocky Hill." As someone with an art history background, yes, this image is anti-semitic and has ties to anti-semitic propaganda going back to the middle-ages. It's also a direct harkening to Nazi anti-semitic posters.
"(Maureen) Heard, 57, discovered last year that she was among roughly 319,000 voters across the country whose absentee ballots were rejected during the last presidential election. The reasons varied, ranging from missing deadlines to failing to sign their ballot… Heard's ballot was tossed out because the signature did not match the one on file at her local election office." Hell, given the different kinds of signature gathering tech (paper, screen with pen, screen with finger) my signatures vary. "Voters who are notified of a problem can request a new ballot or vote in person, but the law does not provide time after the election to resolve the problems. That potentially affects voters who drop off their ballots on or near Election Day." Note, not all states notify you if they reject your ballot (or registration).
Sometime late is not any different than never. "Nearly a dozen senior law enforcement, homeland security and intelligence officials held a first-of-its-kind meeting at the Justice Department in late September to discuss how to respond if a foreign adversary tried to influence the midterm elections… But they left after 90 minutes without devising a plan or answering key questions, according to a person who attended the previously unreported gathering." Two years later and they're just getting started. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Federal judges on Wednesday ordered Ohio to allow voters who had been purged for not voting over a six-year period to participate in this year's election."
"The Republican-controlled state legislature began debating this requirement (hard residential addresses, not just PO boxes) just a few months after Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat, won a Senate seat in 2012 with strong support from Native Americans. That race was decided by fewer than 3,000 votes. Ms. Heitkamp is now seeking re-election in one of the nation’s most aggressively contested elections, and she is trailing her Republican opponent, Representative Kevin Cramer, in the polls."? Yes, conservatives are actively trying to disenfranchise everyone they think might vote Democratic and they will use any excuse to do so. People who don't know their street address are supposedly able to call the sheriff and have one assigned. Except the sheriff isn't usually available (also the sheriff doesn't really have jurisdiction on reservation land). And then there's the color of ink used on absentee ballots. "Later, when Ms. Young filled out an absentee ballot (after being turned away because there was no "early voting"), Ms. Hettich told her she had to use blue ink or the ballot would not be counted. But literature on the secretary of state’s website says ballots must be filled out in black ink. Mr. Semans ping-ponged back and forth between Standing Rock and Bismarck, trying to get a guarantee that ballots would not be thrown out because of ink color. On Friday, Lee Ann Oliver in the secretary of state’s office told The Times that both blue and black were acceptable." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"Here's what to do if you're turned away at the polls." (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
"President Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that the Democratic Party does not have the midterm momentum that its leaders have claimed, proclaiming that 'the blue wave is dead.'" Go out and vote.
"In the most racially charged national political ad in 30 years, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party accuse Democrats of plotting to help people they depict as Central American invaders overrun the nation with cop killers… The new web video, tweeted by the President five days before the midterm elections, is the most extreme step yet in the most inflammatory closing argument of any campaign in recent memory." Oh hello, Willie Horton. Why do I call the president and most conservatives Nazis and racists? Because they are. Because Nazis and racists call them that as well.
Like… "On the home page of his campaign website, Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale has posted a television ad showing a veteran praising the Republican congressman for helping him get a lung transplant… It turns out that veteran, David Brayton of Santa Clarita, has posted dozens of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim comments on Facebook… Brayton, 64, has also promoted violence against journalists he sees as hostile to President Trump and called on citizen militias to turn their weapons on left-wing protesters." He seems nice. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
Tweet of my heart: @drvox One thing we're seeing now is the 2nd generation of Fox conservatives. The first grew up in a normal world & was pulled into Fox world (like my dad). But they *remember* the normal world & can still pass in it; they know what tone & keywords to use. However ... (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
A podcast for historical fantasy. I haven't listened to it yet, but you might find it handy. (Grokked from Cat Rambo)
"Here Is How You NaNoWriMo, You Ruinous Monster, You." Chuck Wendig on the Writers Season before us. "You are here to ruin a perfectly good empty page. And that isn’t just the purview of this month — but it’s writing any story, on any day."
"The essential question is 'What advice would you give to working-class/poor young people interested in an arts career?' and basically she doesn't really know what to say about it. There are reasons for this. But I have plenty to say!" A tweet storm from Nick Mamatas. Is it possible? looks around, checks pay stub Yes. checks word count on fiction writing these past 8 years No. It comes down to choices, and not the "I left my day job to write full time" choices either. Why haven't I been able to write much fiction? Because I'm the main bread winner of the couple. And I like to be able to take good vacations and buy things when I want them (no, I don't go everywhere everywhen I want, no I don't buy anywhere close to everything I want). But I've been to Alaska, I've been to Yellowstone, and I'll be going to Disney World soon (this is the first time there for my wife and I). To do that and not freak the total fuck out (I still freak out) I work the day job (graphic design), the night job (radiological technologist) and I hustle (freelance and t-shirt design). I was on my way to writing novels. Three months after I went to Viable Paradise I lost my day job (insert long story) and ended up here. I made choices. One of those choices was to develop options so I would have a good chance of remaining gainfully employed until retirement, and to do that I've slighted writing time. I had hoped to be back to it by now, but (insert long story including Nov 8, 2016) that hasn't happened yet. I could choose to give this (waves arms around) blog up to get writing time, but I'd still probably read all the stories I link to anyway, and that's what takes up the time. So can you do it? Yes. It involves sacrifice (including doing "graphic design" instead of "art"). You might not make much money (and the retirement plan sucks). But it is possible. And as Nick says, you have to be better than everyone else in that goddamn building. (Grokked from CC Finlay)
Side note, working in the hospital I've realized that I really should have been a doctor or something more advanced in the medical field. When I started going to college that wasn't even an option (financially and perspective wise). Have some done it? Yes (more claim to have, but when you scratch you find all the help they've been given that they've taken for granted). I wasn't in a place where that was a viable option (to do that, you'd really have to be focused from 6th grade onward, and that was about the time I started saying, "Fuck it"). It's the same thing as poor kids becoming artists. Some do, most who should have, who would have been fantastic at it, don't because it's not a real option for them.
Oh my, what will HBO do now that Game of Thrones is about to end? "The Oscar-nominated 'King Kong' and 'Mulholland Drive' star is the first actor to be attached to a prequel set thousands of years before 'Game of Thrones,' HBO has confirmed." Prequels, of course. Winter was already there.
"Researchers found that, from the age of 40, people at the higher end of the healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) range had the lowest risk of dying from disease… But people at the top and bottom ends of the BMI risked having shorter lives."
"According to brain reconstruction research led by The University of Texas at Austin, the part of the elephant bird brain that processed vision was tiny, a trait that indicates they were nocturnal and possibly blind. The findings were published Oct. 31 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B." The extinct world's giantest bird was mostly likely not all that good at seeing things. Like extinction coming.
"Now, an international team of scientists has studied the Milky Way’s monster using an instrument called GRAVITY to combine the infrared light from four eight-meter telescopes at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. Combining light from multiple telescopes is a technique called interferometry, and can dramatically boost the sensitivity and precision of astronomical observations."
"The DRC's government reports that on average (Ebola) burial teams, health workers and other responders are being threatened like this as often as three or four times a week."
"That sense of mystery was certainly present last week when marine scientists witnessed a sight never before seen by humans: a deep-sea vista of over a thousand octopuses, dotting the ocean floor, curled and wedged among the rocks." I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.
"More than 75% of the Italian city of Venice was inundated by high tides and extreme winds on Monday and Tuesday, leaving most of the so-called 'Floating City' with the worst flooding in a decade. After two days of heavy rain across Italy, Venice, known for its iconic waterways, can hopefully begin to recover."
"On Election Day, Utah residents will be going to the polls to vote on whether the state will join 33 others and Washington, D.C., in expanding Medicaid coverage to a lot more low-income adults. Democrat and Republican states have expanded." But mostly Democratically led states.
What does a democratic theocracy look like? "Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday announced the acquittal of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Catholic woman who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010 for blasphemy in a case that has divided the South Asian country and sparked international outrage." I'm sure the Pakistani Muslims now have common cause with American Christians in feeling that their religion is "under attack."
"One year after the #MeToo movement took off, new NPR-Ipsos polls show the nation deeply divided on sexual assault and harassment, with fissures running more along party lines than gender… On the question of whether false accusations of sexual assault are common, the party gap is quadruple the gender gap: 77 percent of Republicans believe false accusations are common, compared to 37 percent of Democrats." So how's that philosophy working out for you, Jacob Wohl?
"Wisconsin is officially the fourth state to condition Medicaid recipients’ health care on work, even as two other states are currently being sued for their requirements… The state estimates more than 5,000 will no longer have Medicaid coverage due to Wednesday’s changes. It’s also the only state of the four that have work requirements but didn’t expand Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of poverty level."
"Former Vice President Joe Biden pushed back Wednesday on claims by President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans that the GOP can protect patients with pre-existing conditions better than Democrats, saying Republicans are either lying or 'really stupid.'" Why not both. I'm going with both (or at the very least they're liars and they think the rest of us are really stupid). Mostly this posturing of conservatives who have spent the last 8 years trying to overturn those protections outlined in Obamacare (note how many news organizations have reverted to calling it the ACA) trying to cover their asses this election. Also, they're preparing the field for other attempts to destroy Obamacare ("well, they said they would protect pre-existing conditions, so we should be okay if they get rid of that Obamacare").
Usually a president is welcomed to help heal a community. "Mayor Bill Peduto, a Democrat, urged Trump not to visit Pittsburgh 'while we are burying the dead,' so the attention would remain on the victims and their funerals." It's okay, IIRC, President Obama was also not invited into a community to help them heal.
But then, "President Donald Trump makes a hard turn Wednesday from offering empathy to grief-stricken Pittsburgh to the fear and fury of a midterm election closing argument designed to drive up Republican turnout despite the risk of deepening national divides."
"President Donald Trump went after House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday, saying one of the top Republican leaders in the President's party 'knows nothing about' birthright citizenship and 'should be focusing on holding the Majority' in the House of Representatives 'rather than giving his opinions' on the issue." Because if you disagree with the president, he has to attack you. That's his MO.
"A campaign mailer showing a Jewish candidate for state Senate with a fistful of money is drawing condemnation for what critics say is its blatant anti-Semitic imagery… It was sent out by Republican Ed Charamut and targets Democratic state Rep. Matthew Lesser, his opponent in the race for the 9th Senate District seat, which represents Middletown, Wethersfield, Newington, Cromwell and Rocky Hill." As someone with an art history background, yes, this image is anti-semitic and has ties to anti-semitic propaganda going back to the middle-ages. It's also a direct harkening to Nazi anti-semitic posters.
"(Maureen) Heard, 57, discovered last year that she was among roughly 319,000 voters across the country whose absentee ballots were rejected during the last presidential election. The reasons varied, ranging from missing deadlines to failing to sign their ballot… Heard's ballot was tossed out because the signature did not match the one on file at her local election office." Hell, given the different kinds of signature gathering tech (paper, screen with pen, screen with finger) my signatures vary. "Voters who are notified of a problem can request a new ballot or vote in person, but the law does not provide time after the election to resolve the problems. That potentially affects voters who drop off their ballots on or near Election Day." Note, not all states notify you if they reject your ballot (or registration).
Sometime late is not any different than never. "Nearly a dozen senior law enforcement, homeland security and intelligence officials held a first-of-its-kind meeting at the Justice Department in late September to discuss how to respond if a foreign adversary tried to influence the midterm elections… But they left after 90 minutes without devising a plan or answering key questions, according to a person who attended the previously unreported gathering." Two years later and they're just getting started. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Federal judges on Wednesday ordered Ohio to allow voters who had been purged for not voting over a six-year period to participate in this year's election."
"The Republican-controlled state legislature began debating this requirement (hard residential addresses, not just PO boxes) just a few months after Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat, won a Senate seat in 2012 with strong support from Native Americans. That race was decided by fewer than 3,000 votes. Ms. Heitkamp is now seeking re-election in one of the nation’s most aggressively contested elections, and she is trailing her Republican opponent, Representative Kevin Cramer, in the polls."? Yes, conservatives are actively trying to disenfranchise everyone they think might vote Democratic and they will use any excuse to do so. People who don't know their street address are supposedly able to call the sheriff and have one assigned. Except the sheriff isn't usually available (also the sheriff doesn't really have jurisdiction on reservation land). And then there's the color of ink used on absentee ballots. "Later, when Ms. Young filled out an absentee ballot (after being turned away because there was no "early voting"), Ms. Hettich told her she had to use blue ink or the ballot would not be counted. But literature on the secretary of state’s website says ballots must be filled out in black ink. Mr. Semans ping-ponged back and forth between Standing Rock and Bismarck, trying to get a guarantee that ballots would not be thrown out because of ink color. On Friday, Lee Ann Oliver in the secretary of state’s office told The Times that both blue and black were acceptable." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"Here's what to do if you're turned away at the polls." (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
"President Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that the Democratic Party does not have the midterm momentum that its leaders have claimed, proclaiming that 'the blue wave is dead.'" Go out and vote.
"In the most racially charged national political ad in 30 years, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party accuse Democrats of plotting to help people they depict as Central American invaders overrun the nation with cop killers… The new web video, tweeted by the President five days before the midterm elections, is the most extreme step yet in the most inflammatory closing argument of any campaign in recent memory." Oh hello, Willie Horton. Why do I call the president and most conservatives Nazis and racists? Because they are. Because Nazis and racists call them that as well.
Like… "On the home page of his campaign website, Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale has posted a television ad showing a veteran praising the Republican congressman for helping him get a lung transplant… It turns out that veteran, David Brayton of Santa Clarita, has posted dozens of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim comments on Facebook… Brayton, 64, has also promoted violence against journalists he sees as hostile to President Trump and called on citizen militias to turn their weapons on left-wing protesters." He seems nice. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
Tweet of my heart: @drvox One thing we're seeing now is the 2nd generation of Fox conservatives. The first grew up in a normal world & was pulled into Fox world (like my dad). But they *remember* the normal world & can still pass in it; they know what tone & keywords to use. However ... (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
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